Isolation of Cells and Cell Lines From Transgenic and Knockout Animals

Abstract

Cells and cell lines can be created from transgenic and null mice providing a way to differentiate between direct effects and those that are dependent on secondary changes in neighboring cells. Isolation of various cell types can be accomplished using a variety of methods that can be obtained from standard textbooks. Additionally, cell lines can be derived from cells obtained for this purpose. The application of cells and cell lines from transgenic and null mice is particularly well suited when embryo lethality occurs, assuming midgestationstage embryos can be obtained for collection of the cell type of interest. A number of cells have been used for these purposes, but for illustration the remaining portion of this section will describe the use of embryonic stem (ES) cells, embryonic fibroblasts (EF), and hepatocytes.