RF

Inbr: F113 (J). Albino. Genet: a, c. Origin: Furth 1928 from Rockefeller Institute general-purpose stock. Transferred to Oak Ridge. History somewhat questionable.

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Behaviour

High spontaneous bar pressing (1/14), high open-field activity (2/14) and high social grooming during aggressive encounters (1/14), but low tail rattling during such encounters (14/14) (Southwick and Clark, 1968).

Life-span and spontaneous disease

Intermediate life-span in males (15/22 = 651 days) but short in females (5/22 = 452 days) in conventional conditions. High gross tumour incidence in males (4/22) (Storer, 1966). Necrotising arteritis involving the aorta, its major branches and other arteries and arterioles seen in 10-20% of aged mice. Disease may involve an autoimmune mechanism (Upton et al., 1967., 1967). Mean life- span 619_7 days. Leukaemia 66%, glomerulosclerosis 63% and reticulum cell sarcoma 52% (Yuhas and Clapp, 1972). Spontaneous glomerular hyalinisation and glomerrnlosclerosis develops at 8-20 months (Russell and Meier, 1966). Leukaemia 46% (Myers et al., 1970., 1970)

Normal physiology and biochemistry

Low plasma cholesterol at 12 weeks (7/8), but intermediate by 24 weeks (Weibust, 1973). High serum ceruloplasmin levels (2/26 in males, 1/27 in females) (Meier and MacPike, 1968). High systolic blood pressure (6/19) (Schlager and Weibust, 1967). Low plasma cholinesterase activity (21/22) (Angel et al., 1967., 1967). High liver tyrosine aminotransferase level in fasted mice (2/10) (Blake, 1970). High kidney (1/12) and liver (2/12) arylsulphatase activity (Daniel, 1976).

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Anatomy

Large brain weight in females (15/18) (Storer, 1967). Small brain/body weight ratio (20/20) (Roderick et al., 1973., 1973). Large brain weight (5/25) (Roderick et al., 1973., 1973). Large neocortex (1/9) (Wimer et al., 1969., 1969).

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Drugs

Resistant to skin ulceration by DMBA (cf. 9/22) (Thomas et al., 1973., 1973). Sensitive to lethal effects of ozone (5/21) (Goldstein et al., 1973., 1973). Sensitive to hyperbaric oxygen (5/18) (Hill et al., 1968., 1968). Resistant to X-irradiation as judged by the LD50 (3/8) (Yuhas and Storer, 1969).

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Immunology

Resistant to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (cf. 7/18) (Levine and Sowinski, 1973). Erythrocytes have a low agglutinability (cf. 11/25) (Rubinstein et al., 1974., 1974).

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Infection

Encephalomyocarditis virus causes diabetes mellitus (cf. 7/14) (Boucher et al., 1975., 1975).

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Reproduction

High post-implantation loss of embryos (2/8) (Leonard et al., 1971., 1971).

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Angel C. R., Mahin D. T., Farris R. D., and Woodward K. T. (1967) Heritability of plasma cholinesterase activity in inbred mouse strains. Science 156, 529-530.

Blake R. L. (1970) Regulation of liver tyrosine amino transferase activity in inbred strains and mutant mice. I. Strain variance in fasting enzyme levels. Int. J. Biochem. 1, 361-370.

Boucher D. W., Hayashi K., Rosenthal J., and Notkins A. L. (1975) Virus-induced diabetes mellitus. III. Influence of sex and strain of host. J. Infect. Dis. 131, 462-466.

Daniel W. L. (1976) Genetics of murine liver and kidney arylsulfatase B. Genetics 82, 477-491.

Goldstein B. D., Lai L. Y., Ross S. R., and Cuzzi-Spada R. (1973) Susceptibility of inbred mouse strains to ozone. Arch. Environ. Health 27, 412-413.

Hill G. B., Osterhout S., and O'Fallon W. M. (1968) Variation in response to hyperbaric oxygen among inbred strains of mice. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 129, 687-689.

Leonard A., Deknudt G., and Linden G. (1971) Ovulation and prenatal losses in different strains of mice. Exp. Anim. (France) 4, 1-6.

Levine S. and Sowinski R. (1973) Experimental allergic encephelomyelitis in inbred and outbred mice. J. Immunol. 110, 139-143.

Meier H. and MacPike A. D. (1968) Levels and heritability of serum ceruloplasmin activity in inbred strains of mice. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 128, 1185-1190.

Myers D. D., Meier H., and Huebner R. J. (1970) Prevalence of murine C-type RNA virus group specific antigen in inbred strains of mice. Life Sci. 9, 1071-1080.

Roderick T. H., Wimer R. E., Wimer C. C., and Schwartzkroin P. A. (1973) Genetic and phenotypic variation in weight of brain and spinal cord between inbred strains of mice. Brain Res. 64, 345-353.

Rubinstein P., Liu N., Strenn E. W., and Decary F. (1974) Electrophoretic mobility and agglutinability of red blood cells: a `new' polymorphism in mice. J. Exp. Med. 139, 313-322.

Russell E. S. and Meier H. (1966) Constitutional diseases, in Biology of the Laboratory Mouse, 2nd. ed. (Green E. L., ed), pp. 571-587. McGraw-Hill, New York.

Schlager G. and Dickie M. M. (1967) Spontaneous mutations and mutation rates in the house mouse. Genetics 57, 319-330.

Southwick C. H. and Clark L. H. (1968) Interstrain differences in aggressive behaviour and exploratory activity of inbred mice. Commun. Behav. Biol. Part A 1, 49-59.

Storer J. B. (1966) Longevity and gross pathology at death in 22 inbred strains of mice. J. Gerontol. 21, 404-409.

Storer J. B. (1967) Relation of lifespan to brain weight, body weight and metabolic rate among inbred mouse strains. Exp. Gerontol. 2, 173-182.

Thomas P. E., Hutton J. J., and Taylor B. A. (1973) Genetic relationship between aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase inducibility and chemical carcinogen induced skin ulceration in mice. Genetics 74, 655-659.

Upton A. C., Conklin J., Cosgrove G., Gude W. D., and Darden E. B. (1967) Necrotizing polyarteritis in aging RF mice. Lab. Invest. 16, 483-487.

Weibust R. S. (1973) Inheritance of plasma cholesterol levels in mice. Genetics 73, 303-312.

Wimer R. E., Wimer C. C., and Roderick T. H. (1969) Genetic variability in forebrain structures between inbred strains of mice. Brain Res. 16, 257-264.

Yuhas J. M. and Storer J. B. (1969) On mouse strain differences in radiation resistance: hematopoietic death and the endogenous colony-forming unit. Radiation Res. 39, 608-622.

Yuhas J. M. and Clapp N. K. (1972) Incidence of leukemia and nonlymphatic tumors in mice with glomerulosclerosis and allied disorders. J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 48, 367-373.

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INBRED STRAINS OF MICE
Updated 9 Apr. 1998
Michael FW Festing
MRC Toxicology Unit, Hodgkin Building,
University of Leicester, UK