title: Devising assisted reproductive technologies for wild-derived strains of mice: 37 strains from five subspecies of Mus musculus.
abstract: Wild-derived mice have long offered invaluable experimental models for mouse genetics because of their high evolutionary divergence from laboratory mice. A number of wild-derived strains are available from the RIKEN BioResource Center (BRC), but they have been maintained as living stocks because of the unavailability of assisted reproductive technology (ART). In this study, we sought to devise ART for 37 wild-derived strains from five subspecies of Mus musculus maintained at the BRC. Superovulation of females was effective (more than 15 oocytes per female) for 34 out of 37 strains by treatment with either equine chorionic gonadotropin or anti-inhibin serum, depending on their genetic background (subspecies). The collected oocytes could be fertilized in vitro at mean rates of 79.0% and 54.6% by the optimized protocol using fresh or frozen-thawed spermatozoa, respectively. They were cryopreserved at the 2-cell stage by vitrification with an ethylene glycol-based solution. In total, 94.6% of cryopreserved embryos survived the vitrification procedure and restored their normal morphology after warming. A conventional embryo transfer protocol could be applied to 25 out of the 35 strains tested. In the remaining 10 strains, live offspring could be obtained by a modified embryo transfer protocol using cyclosporin A treatment and co-transfer of ICR (laboratory mouse strain) embryos. Thus, ART for 37 wild-derived strains was devised successfully and is now routinely used for their preservation and transportation. The information provided here might facilitate broader use and wider distribution of wild-derived mice for biomedical research.
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mochida
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Otaka
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hama
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furuya
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Eri
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ichikawa
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Maiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ijuin
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kyuichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Taguma
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Rika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Masayo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kadota
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hiraiwa
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mekada
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshiki
authors.affiliation: RIKEN BioResouce Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; Graduate School of Life and Environmental Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan; Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsuo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogura
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D001947:Breeding / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D004624:Embryo Transfer; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D057507:Mice, 129 Strain; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009865:Oocytes; D027724:Reproductive Techniques, Assisted; D013094:Spermatozoa