ABSTRACT
A transgenic mouse line carrying ornithine decarboxylase cDNA as the transgene under the control of a mouse mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat (MMTV LTR) promoter was generated in order to study whether ornithine decarboxylase transgene expression will have any physiological or pathological effect during the entire life of a transgenic mouse. The high frequency of infertile animals and the loss of pups made the breeding of homozygous mice unsuccessful. However, a colony of heterozygous transgenic mice was followed for 2 years. In adult heterozygous transgenic mice, ornithine decarboxylase activity was significantly increased in the testis, seminal vesicle and preputial gland when compared to non-transgenic controls. In contrast, ornithine decarboxylase activity was decreased in the kidney and prostate of transgenic mice. No significant changes in ornithine decarboxylase activity were found in the ovary and mammary gland and only moderate changes in ornithine decarboxylase activity were detected in the heart, brain, pancreas and lung. The most common abnormalities found in adult animals (12 males and 20 females) of the transgenic line were inflammatory processes, including pancreatitis, hepatitis, sialoadenitis and pyelonephritis. Spontaneous tumors were observed in eight animals, including two benign tumors (one dermatofibroma, one liver hemangioma) and six malignant tumors (one lymphoma, one intestinal and three mammary adenocarcinomas and one adenocarcinoma in the lung). No significant pathological changes were found in 17 nontransgenic controls.
Subject(s)
Infertility/etiology , Neoplasms/etiology , Ornithine Decarboxylase/metabolism , Animals , Female , Genitalia, Male/anatomy & histology , Genitalia, Male/enzymology , Heterozygote , Male , Mice , Mice, Transgenic , Neoplasms/enzymology , Ornithine Decarboxylase/genetics , Promoter Regions, GeneticABSTRACT
Crossed immunoelectrophoresis was used to study Triton X-100-soluble cell components of Streptococcus cremoris T5 from viili. The antiserum was raised against whole cells, and the antigens extracted gave a complex precipitate pattern with 16 prominent and reproducible precipitates. The results of immunoadsorption experiments with whole cells suggest that six antigens are expressed on the cell surface, and the exposure of cell surface antigens is greater on cells from the early stationary growth phase than on those from the late exponential phase.
