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Mouse Strains

C57BL/10SnJ Mouse Strain

By October 12, 2019No Comments

Overview

C57BL/10SnJ, also known as B10 Snell J, Black 10 Snell J, C57BL10, B10 or Black 10, is an inbred strain of mouse closely related to the popular C57BL/10J strain.[1]

History

C57BL/10SnJ is part of the C57BL family of strains, the most popular of all mouse strain families used in scientific research. These mice originate from a mating carried out by Little in 1921 with Miss Lathrop’s stock. C57BL/10 and C57BL/6 became separate strains before 1937.[2][3]

The C57BL/10 mice that eventually became C57BL/10SnJ passed from Little to Russell, then onto Scott and finally to Snell for whom they are named. Snell passed them to the Jackson Laboratory, where they were distinguished from normal C57BL/10J in 1947 and fostered onto C57BL/6J.[1][3]

Physical Characteristics

Like all mice in the C57BL family, this strain has black fur. They are large mice on account of their greater than average appetite.[3]

Behavioral Characteristics & Handling

The Jackson Laboratory Handbook makes a few precautionary notes about this strain. First, that they can be jumpy, especially weanlings. Second, that they engage in barbering. Third, that whole litters may go missing at weanling age.[3] Hence, researchers requiring a highly docile strain and/or a strain very easy to keep may want to avoid C57BL/10SnJ.

A 1999 study used a test battery to investigate behavioral differences amongst a number of mouse strains, including C57BL/10SnJ. The researchers found that on the whole, activity and exploration in the open field for C57BL/10SnJ were about the same as for B10.BR mice, but that C57BL/10SnJ showed greater anxiety in the elevated plus maze.[4]

Health Characteristics

Despite their genetic proximity to other members of the C57BL strain family, C57/BL10SnJ mice show some notable differences in health characteristics. For example, one study showed that, following infection with Schistosoma mansoni, C57BL/10SnJ mice showed a much stronger immune response than C57BL/6J with the formation of more severe hepatic granulomas and greater production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.[5]

C57BL/10SnJ also show worse cardiac function following ex vivo ischemia than a number of other strains, including C57BL/6J. C57BL/10SnJ hearts are more likely to lapse into tachycardia and reduced function than those of C57BL/6J. The one area where C57BL/10SnJ are similar to C57BL/6J is in their response to cardiac hypoxia, where these two strains perform about equally bad compared to mice in the 129 family.[6]

Major Experimental Uses

As a member of the C57BL family, C57BL/10SnJ is suitable for a broad range of research applications. Since it shares immune system abnormalities with the closely related C57BL/10J strain, like that strain it is especially useful to researchers investigating immunological dysfunction.[1]

References

  1. 000666 – C57BL/10SnJ. 2019. 000666 – C57BL/10SnJ. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.jax.org/strain/000666. [Accessed 25 September 2019].
  2. MGI – Inbred Strains: C57BL. 2019. MGI – Inbred Strains: C57BL. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.informatics.jax.org/inbred_strains/mouse/docs/C57BL.shtml. [Accessed 25 September 2019].
  3. The Jackson Laboratory Handbook on Genetically Standardized Mice. 6th ed. 2009. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://jackson.jax.org/rs/444-BUH-304/images/JAX%20Handbook%20Genetically%20Standardized%20Mice.pdf.
  4. Richard E. Brown, Heather M. Schellinck & Justin Jagosh. 1999. Behavioural studies of MHC-congenic mice. Genetica. 104. 249-257.
  5. Smith, P. M., Sproule, T. J., Philip, V. M., Roopenian, D. C., & Stadecker, M. J. 2015. Minor genomic differences between related B6 and B10 mice affect severity of schistosome infection by governing the mode of dendritic cell activation. European journal of immunology, 45(8), 2312–2323.
  6. Barnabei, M. S., Palpant, N. J., & Metzger, J. M. (2010). Influence of genetic background on ex vivo and in vivo cardiac function in several commonly used inbred mouse strains. Physiological genomics. 42A(2), 103–113.
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