Inbred Strains
of Mice: VM
Inbr. 81 (Dk). Albino. Genet.
a,b,c,d.,
H2b,
Mlsa. Origin: Inbred as `5M' from Moredun
Inst. stock (
Dickinson and Mackay, 1964),
and name later changed to conform with nomenclature rules (
Dickinson et al., 1968., 1968). Congenic mouse strains
VM/Dk and VM-Sincs7/Dk differ at the Sinc gene, which controls the incubation
period of scrapie in mice; VM/Dk mice are Sincp7p7 and VM-Sincs7/Dk mice
are Sincs7s7. Restriction fragment length polymorphism and DNA sequencing
analysis demonstrated that the PrP genes also differ in these strains
(
Hunter et al 1992)
Characteristics
Long incubation of ME 7 scrapie agent and short incubation of 22A compared
with most other strains (
Dickinson and
Meikle, 1971). Spontaneous astrocytomas occur at 1.5% incidence. Tumours
are largely confined to white matter areas, and have not been seen in
sixteen other strains. Also has high incidence (1/6) of developmental
defects, including cleft palate, subcutaneous blebs, facial and tail defects
and cranial meningocoele (
Fraser, 1971), including
spina bifida (Dickinson, 1977).
Dickinson
A. G. and Mackay J. M. K. (1964) Genetical control of the incubation period
in mice of the neurological disease, scrapie. Heredity 19,
279-288.
Dickinson
A. G., Meikle V. M. H., and Fraser H. (1968) Identification of a gene
which controls the incubation period of some strains of scrapie agent
in mice. J. Comp. Pathol. 78, 293-299.
Dickinson
A. G. and Meikle V. M. H. (1971) Host -genotype and agent effects in scrapie
incubation: change in allelic interaction with different strains of agent.
Molec. Gen. Genet. 112, 73-79.
Fraser H. (1971) Astrocytomas
in an inbred mouse strain. J. Pathol. 103, 266-270.
Hunter
N., Dann J. C., Bennett A. D., Somerville R. A., McConnell I., and Hope
J. (1992) Are Sinc and the PrP gene congruent? Evidence from PrP gene
analysis in Sinc congenic mice. J. Gen. Virol. 73, 2751-2755.
INBRED STRAINS OF MICE
Updated 9 Apr. 1998
Michael FW
Festing
MRC Toxicology Unit, Hodgkin Building,
University of Leicester,
UK
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