Partial Hepatectomy and Castration of HBV Transgenic Mice

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a hepatotropic virus. Its infection can cause liver injury and regeneration, and its replication is affected by the gender. Transgenic mice that carry a 1.3-mer overlength HBV DNA genome productively replicate HBV in hepatocytes and have been very useful for studying the replication and pathogenesis of HBV in vivo. By using this mouse model, the relationship between HBV and liver injury and regeneration as well as the effect of the gender on HBV gene expression and replication has been studied. In this chapter, we describe the surgical procedures of partial hepatectomy and castration and provide examples to demonstrate how these surgical procedures may be used to study the effect of HBV on liver regeneration and the effect of androgen on HBV replication.