SWR

Inbr: F148 (J). Albino. Genet: c, rd. Origin: Swiss mice from A. de Coulon of Lausanne, inbred by Lynch from about 1926 (Lynch, 1969). Now widely used in research as a general-purpose strain. Develops extreme polydipsia and polyuria on ageing. Maint. by J, Ola.

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Anatomy

Low percent carcass lipid on a high-fat diet (1/9) (West et al 1992).

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Behaviour

Low intrastrain aggression (11/14) (Southwick and Clark, 1966). High avoidance conditionability (1/9) (Royce, 1972). Poor T-maze learning (5/6) (Stasik, 1970). Low spontaneous bar-pressing activity (14/14) (Southwick and Clark, 1968). Ten "non-taster" congenic strains on the SWR "taster" genetic background have been developed by repeated backcrossing with selection for inability to taste bitter compounds including raffinose undecaacetate, glucose pentaacetate and brucine (Harder et al, 1996).

Life-span and spontaneous disease

Life-span in conventional conditions intermediate in males (14/22 = 616 days) but short in females (7/22 = 496 days) (Storer, 1966). Pulmonary tumours 80% in mice living to 18 months (Heston, 1963). Mammary tumours 7-28% (Deringer, 1970). Develops extreme polydipsia and polyuria (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus) on ageing (Kutscher et al., 1975; Kutscher and Schmalback, 1975k, 1975). Low gross tumour incidence in females (19/22) (Storer, 1967). One or more tumours found in 62% of mice. Lung tumours 36%, mammary tumours 30% (Rabstein et al., 1973., 1973). Arteriosclerosis common (Russell and Meier, 1966). About 10-25% of SWRxSWXJ-9 F1 hybrid mice spontaneously develop granulosa cell tumours. These secrete inhibin, which can be used as a marker for tumour-bearing animals (Gocze et al, 1997).

Normal physiology and biochemistry

High metabolic rate (4/18) (Storer, 1967). High serum ceruloplasmin levels (7/27 in females, 7/26 in males) (Meier and MacPike, 1968). High systolic blood pressure (1/19) (Schlager and Weibust, 1967). Low plasma cholesterol levels (3/11) but high triglyceride levels (10/11) (Jiao et al 1990). Low sensitivity to thyrotropin (18/21) (Levy et al., 1965., 1965). Low erythrocyte catalase (15/18) (Hoffman and Rechcigl, 1971). High kidney and liver arylsulphatase activity (3/12) (Daniel, 1976). High spermatazoal beta-glucuronidase activity (1/9) (Erickson, 1976). Arterial blood has a high pH (1/10) (Bernstein, 1966). Low hepatic delta-aminolaevulinic acid synthetase activity after DDC treatment (12/15) (Gross and Hutton, 1971). Resistant to the development of obesity assocaited with adipocyte insensitivity to insulin (contrast AKR/J) (Eberhart et al, 1994). Consume 30% fewer calories than susceptible AKR mice,with a significantly higher intake of carbohydrate (62 vs 24%) (Smith et al, 1997).

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Drugs

High susceptibility to transplacental tumour induction by 1-ethyl-1-nitrosourea (2/5) (Diwan et al., 1973., 1973). Resistant to skin ulceration by DMBA (cf. 9/22) (Thomas et al., 1973., 1973). Resistant to the development of uterine tumours following treatment with DMBA at 4-weeks of age (cf 3/6) (Tsubura et al, 1993). Susceptible to colon carcinogenesis by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (cf. 3/7) (Evans et al., 1977., 1977). Resistant to teratogenic effects of acetazolamide (6/6) (Green et al., 1973., 1973). Susceptible to `CNS syndrome' from high doses of X-irradiation (5/5) (Yuhas, 1968). Long survival in 90% oxygen (2/10) (Lieberman and Kellog, 1967). Low LD50 to X-irradiation (8/9) (Yuhas and Storer, 1969). Sensitive to X-irradiation (9/10 females, 7/10 males) (Storer, 1966). Susceptible to toxic effects of isoniazid (9/10) (Taylor, 1976b). Sensitive to seizures induced by nicotine (17/19) (Marks et al 1989). Low voluntary comsumption of morphine in two-bottle choice situation (15/15) (Belknap et al, 1993). A diet containing 15% dairy fat, 1% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid caused a high incidence of cholesterol gallstones (like C57L, A, contrast SM, AKR, DBA/2) (Faulkner et al, 1995). Prolonged administration of 2mg 5-aminolevulinic acid/ml of drinking water resulted in uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase insufficiency (11% of controls) and uroporphyria within eight weeks (contrast DBA/2) (Constantin et al, 1996).

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Immunology

Susceptible to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) (2/18) (Levine and Sowinski, 1973). High susceptibility to EAE (2/10) with high severity (1/10) and mortality (2/10) and spontaneous relapse (4/10) (Lindsey, 1996).Low lymphocyte phytohaemmagglutinin response (36/43) (Heiniger et al., 1975., 1975). Poor immune response to low doses of bovine gammaglobulin (cf. 4/8) (Levine and Vaz, 1970). Poor immune response to ovomucoid, but good response to ovalbumin (cf. 6/12) (Vaz et al., 1971., 1971). Large quantity of antibody produced (2/7), but only intermediate relative affinity (4/7) (Alpers et al., 1972., 1972). Erythrocytes have low agglutinability (cf. 11/25) (Rubinstein et al., 1974., 1974). Susceptible to induction of experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (cf. 3/5) (Vladutiu and Rose, 1971a). Resistant to the induction of arthritis by type II collagen (Ortman et al, 1994). Develop allergic conjunctivitis and specific anti-ragweel IgE following topical exposure of the nasal and conjunctival mucosa ragweed. The effects were reduced in mice treated with nedocromil sodium (Marayo-Lloves et al, 1996).

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Infection

Susceptible to herpes simplex virus (10/11) (Lopez, 1975). Susceptible to LCM virus infection (5/5) (Oldstone and Dixon, 1968). Encephalomyocarditis virus causes diabetes mellitus (cf. 7/14) (Boucher et al., 1975., 1975). In contrast to ten other strains, it does not carry type I and II endogenous type C viruses (cf. NZB) (Stephenson et al., 1975., 1975). Carries no detectable endogenous ecotropic MuLV DNA sequences (Jenkins et al 1982). Susceptible to immune-mediated central nervous system demyelination following infection with Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus. This is genetically dominant. One copy of H2^q is sufficient for the disease, but an additional non-H2 gene is also implicated (Nicholson et al, 1995).

Rapid immunological expulsion of Trichinella spiralis worms (Wakelin and Donachie 1980). Susceptible to Lyme borreliosis (Borrelia burgdorferi) when inoculated at 3 weeks of age (2/5) and as adults. Mice inoculated at age 3 weeks also developed polyarthritis. (Barthold et al 1990). Mouse mammary tumor proviral loci have been identified by Lee and Eicher (1990). An ecotropic murine leukemia virus (MuLV) isolate can infect the thecal cells surrounding the follicles in the ovary and the Leydig cells in the testis. Both types actively synthesize viral RNA and express a viral antigen and can infect the germ line or the early embryo or both when inoculated at birth (Panthier et al 1989).

Pattern of infection with Leishmania major depends on site of innoculation of parasite, in contrast with BALB/c and most other mouse strains, where route of infection is not critical (Nabors and Farrell, 1994).

Develop severe myocarditis following infection with Coxsackie virus B3 (Zhang et al, 1994).

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Reproduction

Prolific ovulators in response to exogenous hormones and the one-cell embryos have large and prominant pronuclei with good resistance to lysis following microinjection. The strain, like strain FVB, is highly suitable for the propogation of transgenes particularly as it is genetically well defined (Osman et al, 1997)

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Miscellaneous

High degree of genetic distinctiveness (1/27) (Taylor, 1972). Large brain/body weight ratio (5/20) (Roderick et al., 1973., 1973).

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