title: Multiple ovarian transplants to rescue a transgenic line of mice.
abstract: Transgenic mice are useful tools for studying gene function and regulation but can be difficult to successfully breed. To 'rescue' transgenic lines that are difficult to propagate, researchers use a variety of techniques. One method is ovarian transplant, in which researchers remove ovaries from a donor transgenic mouse, cryopreserve the ovarian tissue, transplant this tissue into histocompatible female mice and breed these recipient females. Though it is a useful technique, cryopreservation can potentially damage ovarian tissue, which could reduce fertility. In this article, the authors describe how they carried out ovarian transplants without cryopreservation to rescue a line of transgenic C57BL/6 mice. Other researchers who have experience with mouse reproductive surgery should be able to use this technique to rescue infertile transgenic lines of mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dawes
authors.forename: Bowen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mars
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Michalopoulos
authors.forename: Jaspal S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Khillan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D016377:Organ Transplantation / Q000662:veterinary*; D010053:Ovary / Q000601:surgery / Q000637:transplantation*; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted / Q000662:veterinary*; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods