The sophisticated mouse: protecting a precious reagent

Area of Science:

• Genetics and Genomics
• Animal Models in Research
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Inbred mice are crucial for understanding human disease and drug responses, forming the basis of personalized medicine.
• Maintaining live mouse colonies is expensive, time-consuming, and vulnerable to catastrophic loss and genetic drift.
• Genetic contamination and drift can compromise experimental validity, undermining years of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the critical need for cryopreservation of inbred mouse strains.
• To discuss cost-effective strategies for archiving and recovering valuable mouse genetic resources.
• To provide guidance on economically storing and retrieving mouse strains via sperm cryopreservation.

Main Methods:

• Review of variables affecting inbred mouse genetic background and phenotype.
• Evaluation of various strain archiving options.
• Description of economical sperm cryopreservation for storage and recovery.

Main Results:

• Cryopreservation offers a robust solution to the risks and costs associated with maintaining live mouse colonies.
• Sperm cryopreservation provides a cost-effective and reliable method for long-term archiving and rapid recovery of mouse strains.
• Standardized cryopreservation protocols ensure strain availability for future research, regulatory needs, and collaborations.

Conclusions:

• Cryopreservation should be a standard practice in mouse colony management to ensure the long-term availability and integrity of valuable inbred strains.
• Economical sperm cryopreservation is a powerful tool for safeguarding genetic resources and supporting reproducible research.
• Implementing cryopreservation strategies mitigates risks of loss, contamination, and drift, thereby supporting advancements in personalized medicine.