Differential tissue expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein in ‘Green mice’
De-Fu Ma1, Hideo Tezuka2, Tetsuo Kondo1, Katsuko Sudo3, Dong-Feng Niu1, Tadao Nakazawa1, Tomonori Kawasaki1, Tetsu Yamane1, Nobuki Nakamura1 and Ryohei Katoh1
1Department of Human Pathology, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan, 2Center for Life Science Research, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, Japan and 3Tokyo Medical University Animal Research Center, Japan.
Offprint requests to: Ryohei Katoh, Tokyo Medical University Animal Research Center, 160 8402, Japan. e-mail: rkatoh@yamanashi.ac.jp
Summary. In order to clarify tissue expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in ‘green mice’ from a transgenic line having an EGFP cDNA under the control of a chicken beta-actin promoter and cytomegalovirus enhancer, we studied the expression of EGFP in various organs and tissues from these ‘green mice’ by immunohistochemistry with anti- EGFP antibody in conjunction with direct observation for EGFP fluorescence using confocal laser scanning microscopy.
On immunohistochemical examination and on direct observation by confocal laser scanning microscopy, the level of EGFP expression varied among organs and tissues. EGFP expression was diffusely and strongly observed in the skin, pituitary, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, heart, gall bladder, pancreas, adrenals and urinary bladder. There was only sporadic and weak expression of EGFP in the epithelium of the trachea, bronchus of the lung, stratified squamous epithelium and gastric glands of the stomach, hepatic bile ducts of the liver, glomeruli and renal tubules of the kidney and endo-metrial glands of the uterus. Furthermore, EGFP was only demonstrated within the goblet and paneth cells in the colon and small intestine, the tall columnar cells in the ductus epididymis, and the leydig cells in the testis.
In conclusion, our results show that EGFP is differentially expressed in organs and tissues of ‘green mice’, which indicates that ‘green mice’ may prove useful for research involving transplantation and tissue clonality. Histol Histopathol 25, 749-754 (2010)
Key words: Green fluorescent protein, Tissue distribution, Immunohistochemistry, Confocal laser scanning microscopy, Beta-actin
DOI: 10.14670/HH-25.749