Production of transgenic rats using pregnant and pseudopregnant rats prepared at a breeding farm

We used pregnant and pseudopregnant Wistar-Imamichi rats, prepared at a breeding farm, for production of transgenic rats. The donor and recipient rats were transported to our facility for ova manipulation and embryo implantation, respectively. As a foreign gene, 1.9 kb of a hybrid gene was constructed with the rat renin promoter and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase-coding gene. Fertilized oocytes were collected from the donor and the foreign DNA was microinjected into the pronuclei of 539 oocytes by the method of Hochi. The manipulated oocytes were cultured to the 2-cell stage. One hundred seventeen 2-cell embryos were implanted in the recipient rats. Of 67 newborns, 55 rats grew up to be 3-week-old weanlings. Genomic DNA was extracted from the tail of these weanlings and examined by polymerase chain reaction analysis. Six transgenic rats were found to have been generated by the present method. In this way, transgenic rats were produced by an efficient combination of breeding farm utilization and laboratory research.