To define the factors that control the tissue effects of IL-4, we compared the effects of Tg IL-4 in Balb/c and C57BL/6 mice. In the former, IL-4 caused modest eosinophilic inflammation and mild airway fibrosis and did not shorten survival. In C57BL/6 mice, IL-4 caused profound eosinophilic inflammation, airway fibrosis, emphysematous alveolar destruction, and premature death. These differences...

Paneth cells at the base of small intestinal crypts secrete microbicidal α-defensins, termed cryptdins (Crps) in mice, as mediators of innate immunity. Proteomic studies show that five abundant Paneth cell α-defensins in C57BL/6 mice are strain specific in that they have not been identified in other inbred strains of mice. Two C57BL/6-specific peptides are coded for by the Defcr20 and -21 genes...

OBJECTIVE Inbred mouse strains have different susceptibilities to experimental atherosclerosis. The C57BL/6 strain is among the most sensitive and has, therefore, been the most widely used in atherosclerosis studies, whereas many strains are resistant. The FVB/N strain is highly resistant to atherosclerosis on the apolipoprotein E (apoE)- and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-deficient bac...

Inbred genetic background significantly influences the expression of phenotypes associated with known genetic perturbations and can underlie variation in disease severity between individuals with the same mutation. However, the effect of epistatic interactions on the development of complex traits, such as craniofacial morphology, is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effect of three i...

Genetic variations in the wild-derived inbred mouse strains are more diverse than that of classical laboratory inbred mouse strains, including C57BL/6J (B6). The sleep/wake and monoamine properties of six wild-derived inbred mouse strains (PGN2, NJL, BLG2, KJR, MSM, HMI) were characterized and compared with those of B6 mice. All examined mice were nocturnal and had a polyphasic sleep pattern wi...

We compared four inbred mouse strains in their physical performance, measured as a maximal treadmill running time, characteristics of soleus muscle, anatomic character, and growth. The strains used were Mus musculus domesticus [C57BL/6 (B6) and BALB/c], Mus musculus molossinus (MSM/Ms), and Mus spretus. Maximal running time was significantly different among these four mouse strains. Running tim...

Many inbred strains of mice have a single locus encoding renin, Ren-1, whereas other inbred strains have two tandemly linked loci, Ren-1 and Ren-2. Each of these renin genes in inbred mice exhibits a unique pattern of tissue-specific expression. As a prerequisite to understanding the structural basis for the expression differences, we have physically characterized the sequence organization of t...

Habituation to a novel environment, as measured by a change in exploratory activity over time, can be measured both within (intrasession) and across (intersession) sessions. The role of genetics in intrasession habituation has been investigated previously in quantitative trait loci studies, but little attention has been focused on the role of genetics on intersession habituation. We reported re...

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified numerous loci that influence risk for psychiatric diseases. Genetically engineered mice are often used to characterize genes implicated by GWASs. These studies are based on the assumption that observed genotype-phenotype relationships will generalize to humans, implying that the results would at least generalize to other inbred mouse strai...