Abstract
Live genetically modified (GM) mice are often shipped in transportation cages. However, the shipment of live mice is sometimes associated with difficulties. Recently, we developed an alternative means to transport GM mice via cold storage techniques for sperm and embryos. Cold storage of the cauda epididymis, the male reproductive organ for storing mature sperm, can maintain the fertility of sperm in cold preservation medium for 10 days. The sperm can then be used to produce embryos or pups via in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. Conversely, cold-stored two-cell embryos maintain developmental ability for 4 days. The embryos can be used to produce pups via embryo transfer. Cold transport techniques are being increasingly employed to create local and global networks between research institutes for the shipment of GM mice. In this text, we described a cold transport technique for sperm and two-cell embryos in mice.
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References
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Yuka Horikoshi, Shiori Takeuji, Kiyoko Yamashita, Tomoko Kondo, Yukie Haruguchi, Yumi Takeshita, Yuko Nakamuta, and Shuuji Tsuchiyama (CARD, Kumamoto University) for technical support. This work was partially supported by grants of the National Bioresource Project from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and Research on Development of New Drugs from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development.
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Yoshimoto, H., Takeo, T., Nakagata, N. (2020). Simple Transportation of Genetically Engineered Mice via Cold Storage Techniques. In: Larson, M. (eds) Transgenic Mouse. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2066. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9837-1_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-9837-1_17
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