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Pleiotropic effects of the nude mutation
Birth Defects Original Article Series
|January 1, 1975
Summary
The nude mouse mutation causes immune deficiencies and hair loss, but these defects stem from a single underlying genetic cause affecting both thymus and skin development.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- The autosomal mutation 'nude' in mice results in significant developmental abnormalities.
- Affected mice exhibit thymic dysgenesis, leading to immunologic defects.
- These mice also display hairlessness and abnormal gonad and salivary gland development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between the thymic dysgenesis and hairlessness observed in nude mice.
- To determine if the hair defect is a secondary consequence of thymus abnormalities or a separate manifestation of the same mutation.
Main Methods:
- Grafting experiments were performed using thymus and skin tissues.
- Nude mouse skin was grafted onto normal mice (histocompatible or immunosuppressed).
- Normal mouse skin was grafted onto nude mice.
Main Results:
- Grafting thymus or thymic epithelium corrected immunologic and reproductive defects but not hairlessness.
- Skin grafts from nude mice failed to grow hair, even on normal hosts.
- Normal skin grafts successfully grew hair on nude mice, indicating the skin itself is capable of hair growth.
Conclusions:
- The hairlessness of nude mice is not a secondary effect of thymic dysgenesis.
- A single, common genetic defect affecting both thymus and skin development is responsible for the observed phenotypes in nude mice.