Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Nude mice are not hairless. A morphological study.

P Köpf-Maier1, V F Mboneko, H J Merker

  • 1Institut für Anatomie, Freie Universität Berlin.

Acta Anatomica
|January 1, 1990
PubMed
Summary

Athymic, nude mice are not hairless but have impaired hair development due to defective keratinization. This ectodermal defect likely causes both thymus issues and abnormal hair growth in these mice.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Effect of valproate on zinc metabolism in fetal and maternal rats fed normal and zinc-deficient diets.

Biological trace element research·2013
Same author

Effects of cyclophosphamide and acrolein in organoid cultures of mouse limb bud cells grown in the presence of adult rat hepatocytes.

Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA·2010
Same author

Effect of acyclovir in vitro on lymphopoiesis in the foetal rat thymus.

Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA·2010
Same author

Effects of ofloxacin on chondrogenesis in murine cartilage organoid culture.

Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA·2010
Same author

Potency of monomethyl-, dimethylformamide and some of their metabolites to induce abnormal development in a limb Bud organ culture.

Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA·2010
Same author

Effects of ofloxacin on integrin expression on epiphyseal mouse chondrocytes in vitro.

Toxicology in vitro : an international journal published in association with BIBRA·2010

Area of Science:

  • Developmental biology
  • Dermatology
  • Immunology

Background:

  • Athymic, nude mice (NMRI, nu/nu) are characterized by thymus dysgenesis.
  • Macroscopic observation suggests these mice are hairless, a trait often studied in relation to immune deficiencies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the morphological characteristics of skin and hair in athymic, nude mice.
  • To compare these features with normally haired mice (NMRI).
  • To elucidate the underlying causes of the apparent hairlessness in athymic mice.

Main Methods:

  • Descriptive light microscopy
  • Electron microscopy
  • Comparative morphological analysis of skin and hair

Main Results:

  • Athymic mice possess numerous hair bulbs, indicating hair follicles are present.
  • Keratinization processes are severely impaired, leading to abnormal, short hair shafts that rarely emerge.
  • Epidermal keratinization is also disturbed, with abnormal corneocyte formation and tonofilament bundles.

Conclusions:

  • Athymic, nude mice are not hairless; their hair development and differentiation are significantly impaired.
  • The observed epidermal and hair defects suggest a common ectodermal defect underlies both thymus dysgenesis and abnormal hair growth.
  • This highlights a potential pleiotropic effect of ectodermal abnormalities in the 'nude' mouse mutant.

Related Experiment Videos