Internet Resources for Phenotyping Engineered Rodents

Abstract

Genetically engineered mice (GEM) and rats (GER) have emerged as the main mammalian models for investigating normal (physiological, or "health") and abnormal (patho-logical, or "disease") mechanisms. Regardless of the genetic manipulation, novel GEM and GER must undergo meticulous genotypic and phenotypic analyses before it is possible to predict the significance of the engineered gene with re-spect to health and disease, especially when the desire is to extrapolate the findings to humans. Numerous websites have been generated to give researchers additional tools to facilitate genotyping and phenotyping. This list of many extant sites with descriptions of their basic features provides a starting point for new and established scientists faced with the need to characterize a new GEM or GER model.

Pathology of Mouse Models of Accelerated Aging

“…There is a large amount of resources and references available that can support the pathology analysis of genetically engineered mice. An overview of the available resources is provided by Bolon et al 16,17 A basic approach to perform pathologic examination on mutant mice is reviewed by Brayton et al 21 An excellent, more detailed resource on full mouse necropsy procedures can be consulted online in the ''Revised guides for organ sampling and trimming in rats and mice'' (reni.item.fraunhofer.de/reni/ trimming/index.php). The analysis of specific anatomic areas in certain tissues or the analysis of specific diseases may require a more advanced and multimodal approach, which depends on the research question.…”

Mouse

“…This site offers resources and links to multiple databases, many of which provide valuable information for the toxicological pathologist involved in the evaluation of preclinical studies in the mouse. Other internet sources of information on genetically engineered rodents have been reviewed by Bolon (2006) and Linder & Davisson (2004).…”

Pathbase and the MPATH Ontology

“…Much of this can now be addressed through use of the World Wide Web. There are a number of websites available that are highly specialized and some provide reference images of mouse histopathology 5,27. There are also, gratifyingly, numerous books on the subject with more being published annually 27…”