Comparative analysis of CreER transgenic mice for the study of brain macrophages: A case study

• Published in: European journal of immunology Vol. 50; no. 3; pp. 353 - 362
• Main Authors: Chappell‐Maor, Louise, Kolesnikov, Masha, Kim, Jung‐Seok, Shemer, Anat, Haimon, Zhana, Grozovski, Jonathan, Boura‐Halfon, Sigalit, Masuda, Takahiro, Prinz, Marco, Jung, Steffen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2020
• Subjects: Animal models; Cell fate; Cell interactions; Comparative analysis; conditional mutagenesis; Cre recombinase; CreER; fate mapping; Fate maps; Macrophages; microglia; Mutagenesis; recombination; Rodents; Transgenic animals; Transgenic mice; fate mapping; recombination; conditional mutagenesis; microglia; CreER
• ISSN: 0014-2980; 1521-4141
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.201948342

Conditional mutagenesis and fate mapping have contributed considerably to our understanding of physiology and pathology. Specifically, Cre recombinase‐based approaches allow the definition of cell type‐specific contributions to disease development and of inter‐cellular communication circuits in respective animal models. Here we compared Cx3cr1CreER and Sall1CreER transgenic mice and their use to decipher the brain macrophage compartment as a showcase to discuss recent technological advances. Specifically, we highlight the need to define the accuracy of Cre recombinase expression, as well as strengths and pitfalls of these particular systems that should be taken into consideration when applying these models. Using the genetic manipulation of brain macrophages as example, we highlight the intricacies of the CreER model, including the dependence of recombination of celltype specificity and level of the CreER transgene expression, as well as the time window of expression.