The Laboratory Mouse

A Guide to the Location and Orientation of Tissues for Optimal Histological Evaluation

Jennifer Johnson, Brian DelGiudice, Dinesh Bangari, Eleanor Peterson, Gregory Ulinski, Susan Ryan, Beth Thurberg

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9780429614149
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Science History & Practice

Key features:

• High quality full color photographs and descriptive texts on the location and removal of the organs from the mouse
• Instructive methods and clear visuals for trimming and orienting the organs for paraffin histology to obtain the best possible sections for analysis
• Full color photomicrographs of the resulting section for each organ stained with hematoxylin and eosin demonstrating important features and landmarks for the histologist to ensure the optimal area for analysis is achieved
• All in one, easy to use guide organized by individual organs of the laboratory mouse

• Spiralbound for easy reference in the lab
  
  

This "one-stop" guide offers an essential resource for any academic, research or development operation where mouse necropsy and/or histology are performed. Connecting the reader 'from the mouse to the microscope', it provides a detailed guide for locating, trimming, orientating and embedding of the most frequently investigated tissues collected in the laboratory mouse. It shows where the organs reside in the mouse, how to trim and embed them as well as the resulting optimal sections. This guide brings together the wealth of scattered information into one high-quality text, the emphasis is on providing knowledge that will help histologists and scientists get better results in any downstream assays where ideal sections are needed.

Materials and Methods

All work with animals was conducted in the Comparative Medicine Department at Sanofi Genzyme (Framingham, MA, USA) in accordance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee standards. Both males and females of the two strains of mice used, C57BL/6NCrl and BALB/cAnNCrl mice, were obtained from Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (Wilmington, MA, USA). Animals were euthanized by carbon dioxide asphyxiation prior to tissue removal and photography.

Necropsy and gross tissues were photographed using a Nikon D3X Digital SLR Camera with an AF Micro-Nikkor 60 mm f/2.8D or AF Micro-Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8D lens. Attached to either lens was a Nikon Macro Speedlight SB-21 (Nikon Inc., Melville, NY, USA). Additional lighting and copy work was done on a Kaiser Copylizer eVision exe.cutive Camera Stand with a Kaiser RB4.36 HF Copylizer Lighting Unit (Kaiser Fototechnik White Plains, NY, USA). Photos were shot in RAW format and post-production was done in Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Systems Incorporated, San Jose, CA, USA).

All tissues were fixed for a minimum of 48 hours, although most were fixed longer in 10% neutral buffered formalin unless otherwise noted. Bones were decalcified in Buffered Formic Acid Trisodium Citrate Decalcifier (Poly Scientific R & D Corp., Bay Shore, NY, USA) that was changed every other day until passing the ammonium oxalate test. The test is passed when 1 ml of 5% ammonium oxalate solution added to 5 ml decalcifying solution (from a sample being tested) remains clear of white precipitate after at least five minutes. Bones are then rinsed in running water for a minimum of one hour prior to processing. All tissues were proces...