title: The transplantation of mouse mammary epithelial cells into cleared mammary fat pads.
abstract: The transplantation of mammary epithelial cells into the cleared fat pad allows their growth and differentiation in their normal physiological environment. This technique involves the grafting of tissue fragments or isolated cells into the mammary fat pads of prepubertal mice from which the endogenous epithelium has been surgically removed. Such transplantation assays are particularly useful for the analysis of morphogenetic potential and stem cell activity in normal mammary epithelium and breast tumors. We describe here the main steps in the transplantation of epithelial fragments and isolated cells from mouse mammary glands and the various approaches currently used to evaluate the regeneration and self-renewal properties of mammary stem cells.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche, UMR144, CNRS, Institut Curie, PSL Research University, Paris, F-75248, France, faraldo@curie.fr.
authors.forename: Marisa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Faraldo
authors.forename: Marina A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Glukhova
authors.forename: Marie-Ange
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Deugnier
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue; D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D017690:Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice