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Central Animal Facility
Nurturing Animal Research
Animals
CAF houses a diverse range of animals for scientific research. The facility is designed to support high-quality, ethical research while ensuring the well-being of the animals. Here's a summary of the different species and strain of lab animals housed :
Conventional Mouse strains
BALB/cJ
BALB/cJ is a commonly used inbred. Key traits include a susceptibility to developing the demyelinating disease upon infection with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus.
C57BL/6J
C57BL/6J is the most widely used inbred strain and the first to have its genome sequenced. Although this strain is refractory to many tumors, it is a permissive background for maximal expression of most mutations. C57BL/6J mice are resistant to audiogenic seizures, have a relatively low bone density, and develop age related hearing loss.
C3H/HeJ
C3H/HeJ mice, commonly called C3H, are used as a general purpose strain in a wide variety of research areas including cancer, infectious disease, sensorineural, and cardiovascular biology research. A spontaneous mutation in Tlr4 occurred in C3H/HeJ at the lipopolysaccharide response locus (mutation in toll-like receptor 4 gene, Tlr4Lps-d) making C3H/HeJ mice more resistant to endotoxin.
129X1/SvJ
129 inbred mice are characterized by a high incidence of spontaneous testicular teratomas, though the incidence differs between substrains. 129/SvJ mice, as well as mice from other 129 sublines, are widely used in the production of targeted mutations due to the availability of multiple embryonic stem cell lines derived from them. Major genetic variation exists between various sublines of the 129 "family".
Inbr and colour depends on substrain (see below). Origin: Dunn 1928 from crosses of coat colour stocks from English fanciers and a chinchilla stock from Castle. This strain has a common origin with strain 101. Most substrains carry the white-bellied agouti gene AW though only a subset have the agouti pattern as many carry albino or chinchilla and/or the pink-eyed dilution gene, p, which is derived from Asian mice of the Mus musculus type (see also strains SJL, P/J and FS/Ei) (Brilliant et al, 1994).
Inbr and colour depends on substrain (see below). Origin: Dunn 1928 from crosses of coat colour stocks from English fanciers and a chinchilla stock from Castle. This strain has a common origin with strain 101. Most substrains carry the white-bellied agouti gene AW though only a subset have the agouti pattern as many carry albino or chinchilla and/or the pink-eyed dilution gene, p, which is derived from Asian mice of the Mus musculus type (see also strains SJL, P/J and FS/Ei) (Brilliant et al, 1994).
Swiss albino
Swiss albino mice are used widely in research as a general purpose strain. Aging mice exhibit a high incidence of lung and mammary gland tumors. They also develop extreme polydipsia and polyuria (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus) with increasing age. SWR/J mice are highly susceptible to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. SWR/J mice show an intermediate susceptibility to developing atherosclerotic aortic lesions following an atherogenic diet.
CD-1
Ideal For General multipurpose model, safety and efficacy testing, aging, pseudopregnancy, surgical model
Immune-deficient Mouse strains
Nude mice (NU/J)
The two main defects of mice homozygous for the nude spontaneous mutation (Foxn1nu, formerly Hfh11nu) are abnormal hair growth and defective development of the thymic epithelium. Although the mice appear hairless, they are born with functional but faulty hair growth follicles. Nude mice are also athymic caused by a developmental failure of the thymic anlage. Consequently, homozygous nude mice lack T cells and suffer from a lack of cell-mediated immunity. The use of nude mice has reduced the number of thymectomy procedures required in research projects. Homozygous nude females are not effective breeders. Ovulation starts late at 2.5 months and ends early at 4 months.
Genetically modified Mouse strains
iNOS- or B6.129P2-Nos2tm1Lau/J
Nos2tm1Lau homozygotes, unlike Nos2 wildtype mice, have virtually no serum nitric oxide response, but were susceptible to LPS-induced death. Nos2tm1Lau homozygotes exhibit altered responses to M. bovis (BCG), systemic E. coli infection, M. tuberculosis and M. pulmonis. In addition, wound healing properties of fibroblasts are impaired in Nos2tm1Lau homozygotes. These mice may be suitable for use in studies of inflammatory conditions including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiac allograft rejection, hepatoxicity, myocardial ischemia-reperfusion and septic shock.
gp91phox- or B6.129S-Cybbtm1Din/J
Affected hemizygous male mice lack phagocyte superoxide production, manifest an increased susceptibility to infection with Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus fumigatus and have an altered inflammatory response in thioglycollate peritonitis. This animal model should aid in developing new treatments for chronic granulomatous disease and in evaluating the role of phagocyte-derived oxidants in inflammation.
FVB-Tg(GFAP-cre)25Mes/J
Homozygotes for this transgene are not viable. Hemizygotes express Cre recombinase under the control of the human glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter (GFAP). When crossed with a strain containing loxP site flanked sequence of interest, Cre-mediated recombination results in tissue-specific deletion of the target, and recombination occurs primarily in the central nervous system, affecting astrocytes, oligodendroglia, ependyma and some neurons. This mutant mouse strain represents an effective tool for generating central nervous system specific-targeted mutants.
Tlr2 KO or B6.129-Tlr2tm1Kir/J
Bone marrow derived macrophages of homozygous mice do not respond to spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) lipoprotein challenge, although non-lipoprotein sonicate stimulates activation. Arthritis due to B. burgdorferi infection, as assessed by rear ankle swelling, is more severe in mutant mice. his mutant mouse strain may be useful in studies of host response to bacterial endotoxins such as septic shock.
Rat strains
Sprague Dawley
Ideal For General multipurpose model, safety and efficacy testing, aging, nutrition, diet-induced obesity, oncology, surgical model
Wistar
This particular colony was selected because of a low incidence of hydronephrosis.
Ideal For general multipurpose model, infectious disease research, safety and efficacy testing, aging, surgical model
Ideal For general multipurpose model, infectious disease research, safety and efficacy testing, aging, surgical model
Rabbit strain
New Zealand White
Ideal For Developmental and reproductive toxicology, ocular toxicology, dermal research, arthritis, general multipurpose model.
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