The Pros And Cons Of Transgenic Mice

Introduction

Transgenic mice are that have had a foreign gene deliberately inserted into their genome. Such animals are most commonly created by the micro-injection of DNA into the pronuclei of a fertilized egg which is subsequently implanted into the oviduct of a pseudo pregnant surrogate mother. This results in the recipient animal giving birth to genetically modified offspring. The progeny is then bred with other transgenic offspring to establish a transgenic line. Transgenic animals can also be created by inserting DNA into embryonic stem cells which are then micro-injected into an embryo which has developed for five or six days after fertilization, or infecting an embryo with viruses that carry a DNA of interest. This final method is commonly

Mice are a useful model for genetic manipulation and research, as their tissues and organs are similar to that of a human and they carry virtually all the same genes that operate in humans. They also have advantages over other mammals, in regards to research, in that they are available in hundreds of genetically homogeneous strains. Also, due to their size, they can be kept and housed in large numbers, reducing the cost of research and experiments. The most common type is the knockout mouse, where the activity of a single (or in some cases multiple) genes are removed. They have been used to study and model obesity, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, substance abuse, anxiety, aging and Parkinson disease. Transgenic mice generated to carry cloned oncogenes and knockout mice lacking tumor suppressing genes have provided good models for human cancer. Hundreds of these oncomice have been developed covering a wide range of cancers affecting most organs of the body and they are being refined to become more representative of human cancer. The disease symptoms and potential drugs or treatments can be tested against these mouse models.

A mouse has been genetically engineered to have increased muscle growth and strength by overexpressing the insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in differentiated muscle fibers. Another mouse has had a gene altered that is involved in glucose metabolism and runs faster, lives longer, is more sexually active and eats more without getting fat than the average mouse Great care should be taken when deciding how to use genetically modified mice in research. Even basic issues like choosing the correct "wild-type" control mouse to use for comparison are sometimes