Division of Laboratory Animal Resources

Established in 2005, the Division of Laboratory Animal Resources provides first-rate veterinary services and humane care to all laboratory animals at the Institute.

The Committee of Laboratory Animal Resources is responsible for reviewing all research plans featuring animal experiments, and assessing experimental conditions and animal housing to ensure that experiments are to be carried out humanely and in accordance with The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Academies Press, 2011) and The Guideline for Animal Experimentation (NCCHD, 2010). The division follows the Three Rs approach to humane animal experimentation (Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction), which is applied when deciding to use animal models and in the design of humane animal modeling studies.

Our division also oversees the Rodent Health Monitoring Program. As potential pathogens result in data variation and the misinterpretation of results, we supply specific pathogen-free animals to ensure research data integrity and reproducibility. We conduct routine health surveillance and quality control to ensure the suitability of laboratory animals for research models. This program is regularly reviewed by our Committee.

We provide mouse embryo cryopreservation services to researchers at the NCCHD's research institute. Cryopreservation saves the expense and facility space associated with maintaining a live breeding colony of mice that have no immediate use, and preserves viable mouse embryos for future experiments. This method also protects against catastrophic loss of a mouse colony due to accident, breeding decline, disease, or genetic contamination.

In recent years, genetically modified animals such as transgenic and knockout mice have proven useful in research. We offer technical support for the generation, breeding and care of genetically modified animals.

Memebers

業績

1. Loss of the branched-chain amino acid transporter CD98hc alters the development of colonic macrophages in mice.
   Wuggenig P, Kaya B, Melhem H, Ayata CK; Swiss IBD Cohort Investigators, Hruz P, Sayan AE, Tsumura H, Ito M, Roux J, Niess JH. Commun Biol. 2020 Mar 18;3(1):130.
2. Deletion of a Seminal Gene Cluster Reinforces a Crucial Role of SVS2 in Male Fertility.
   Shindo M, Inui M, Kang W, Tamano M, Tingwei C, Takada S, Hibino T, Yoshida M, Yoshida K, Okada H, Iwamoto T, Miyado K, Kawano N. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Sep 14;20(18):4557.
3. Mouse polycomb group gene Cbx2 promotes osteoblastic but suppresses adipogenic differentiation in postnatal long bones.
   Katoh-Fukui Y, Baba T, Sato T, Otake H, Nagakui-Noguchi Y, Shindo M, Suyama M, Ohkawa Y, Tsumura H, Morohashi KI, Fukami M. Bone. 2019 Mar;120:219-231.
4. Zscan5b Deficiency Impairs DNA Damage Response and Causes Chromosomal Aberrations during Mitosis.
   Ogawa S, Yamada M, Nakamura A, Sugawara T, Nakamura A, Miyajima S, Harada Y, Ooka R, Okawa R, Miyauchi J, Tsumura H, Yoshimura Y, Miyado K, Akutsu H, Tanaka M, Umezawa A, Hamatani T. Stem Cell Reports. 2019 Jun 11;12(6):1366-1379..
5. Bcl-2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) is an enhancer of small heat shock protein turnover via activation of autophagy in the heart.
   Inomata Y, Nagasaka S, Miyate K, Goto Y, Hino C, Toukairin C, Higashio R, Ishida K, Saino T, Hirose M, Tsumura H, Sanbe A. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2018 Feb 19;496(4):1141-1147.
6. Neuregulin-1 type III knockout mice exhibit delayed migration of Schwann cell precursors.
   Miyamoto Y, Torii T, Tanoue A, Kawahara K, Arai M, Tsumura H, Ogata T, Nagao M, Terada N, Yamamoto M, Takashima S, Yamauchi J. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2017 Apr 29;486(2):506-513.
7. Slc3a2 Mediates Branched-Chain Amino-Acid-Dependent Maintenance of Regulatory T Cells.
   Ikeda K, Kinoshita M, Kayama H, Nagamori S, Kongpracha P, Umemoto E, Okumura R, Kurakawa T, Murakami M, Mikami N, Shintani Y, Ueno S, Andou A, Ito M, Tsumura H, Yasutomo K, Ozono K, Takashima S, Sakaguchi S, Kanai Y, Takeda K. Cell Rep. 2017 Nov 14;21(7):1824-1838.