A Transgenic Tri-Modality Reporter Mouse

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 8; p. e73580
• Main Authors: Yan, Xinrui, Ray, Pritha, Paulmurugan, Ramasamy, Tong, Ricky, Gong, Yongquan, Sathirachinda, Ataya, Wu, Joseph C., Gambhir, Sanjiv S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 09.08.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Actin; Actins - genetics; Actins - metabolism; Advantages; Animal tissues; Animals; Bioluminescence; Blood circulation; Bone marrow; Cell survival; Cell Tracking - methods; Chickens - genetics; Colonies; Correlation; Cytomegalovirus; Doppler effect; Engineering research; Fluorescence; Founder Effect; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes; Genes, Reporter; Genetic engineering; Heart; Heart attacks; Herpes viruses; Hindlimb - blood supply; Hindlimb - pathology; Imaging; Ischemia; Ischemia - pathology; Ischemia - therapy; Kinases; Luminescent Measurements; Lycopersicon esculentum - chemistry; Lycopersicon esculentum - genetics; Lysates; Medical imaging; Medical imaging equipment; Mesenchymal Stem Cell Transplantation; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - cytology; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - physiology; Mesenchyme; Mice; Mice, Nude; Mice, Transgenic - genetics; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Muscle proteins; Myocardial infarction; Myocardial Infarction - pathology; Myocardial Infarction - therapy; NMR; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Organ transplantation; Organs; Perfusion; Positron emission; Positron emission tomography; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Proteins; Reporter gene; Rodents; Stem cell research; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Studies; Surgical implants; Tissue engineering; Tomography; Transgenic animals; Transgenic mice; Transplantation; Transplants & implants; United States > US; California
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073580

Transgenic mouse with a stably integrated reporter gene(s) can be a valuable resource for obtaining uniformly labeled stem cells, tissues, and organs for various applications. We have generated a transgenic mouse model that ubiquitously expresses a tri-fusion reporter gene (fluc2-tdTomato-ttk) driven by a constitutive chicken β-actin promoter. This "Tri-Modality Reporter Mouse" system allows one to isolate most cells from this donor mouse and image them for bioluminescent (fluc2), fluorescent (tdTomato), and positron emission tomography (PET) (ttk) modalities. Transgenic colonies with different levels of tri-fusion reporter gene expression showed a linear correlation between all three-reporter proteins (R(2)=0.89 for TdTomato vs Fluc, R(2)=0.94 for Fluc vs TTK, R(2)=0.89 for TdTomato vs TTK) in vitro from tissue lysates and in vivo by optical and PET imaging. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from this transgenics showed high level of reporter gene expression, which linearly correlated with the cell numbers (R(2)=0.99 for bioluminescence imaging (BLI)). Both BLI (R(2)=0.93) and micro-PET (R(2)=0.94) imaging of the subcutaneous implants of Tri-Modality Reporter Mouse derived MSCs in nude mice showed linear correlation with the cell numbers and across different imaging modalities (R(2)=0.97). Serial imaging of MSCs transplanted to mice with acute myocardial infarction (MI) by intramyocardial injection exhibited significantly higher signals in MI heart at days 2, 3, 4, and 7 (p<0.01). MSCs transplanted to the ischemic hindlimb of nude mice showed significantly higher BLI and PET signals in the first 2 weeks that dropped by 4(th) week due to poor cell survival. However, laser Doppler perfusion imaging revealed that blood circulation in the ischemic limb was significantly improved in the MSCs transplantation group compared with the control group. In summary, this mouse can be used as a source of donor cells and organs in various research areas such as stem cell research, tissue engineering research, and organ transplantation.