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. 2017 Mar;33(1):8-14.
doi: 10.5625/lar.2017.33.1.8. Epub 2017 Mar 27.

Comparison of commonly used ICR stocks and the characterization of Korl:ICR

Hye-Jun Shin  1 , Young Min Cho  1 , Hee Jung Shin  1 , Hae Deun Kim  1 , Kyung Min Choi  1 , Mi Gyeong Kim  1 , Hyoung Doo Shin  2 , Myeon-Woo Chung  1
Affiliations

Comparison of commonly used ICR stocks and the characterization of Korl:ICR

Hye-Jun Shin et al. Lab Anim Res. 2017 Mar.

Abstract

Mouse is a commonly used animal in life science studies and is classified as outbred if genetically diverse and inbred if genetically homogeneous. Outbred mouse stocks, are used in toxicology, oncology, infection and pharmacology research. The National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS; former the Korea National Institute of Health) have bred ICR mice for more than 50 years. We investigated to provide users with information and promote accountability to the Korl:ICR. To secure the indigenous data, biological characteristics of Korl:ICR were identified by comparing with other ICR stocks. This domestic ICR stock was denominated as 'Korl:ICR'. Phylogenetic analysis using SNPs indicated that the population stratification of the Korl:ICR was allocated different area with other ICR. In addition, we measured litter size, body weight, body length, various organ weight, hematology and clinical blood chemistry of the Korl:ICR compared to other ICR. Otherwise, there are no significant differences among the biological phenotypes of Korl:ICR and other ICR. These results suggest that as a genetically indigenous source colony, the Korl:ICR is seperated (or independent) stock with other ICR. Also, we confirmed that there is no difference among the Korl:ICR and other ICR on biological phenotypes. Therefore, the Korl:ICR source colony might be a new stock in distinction from other ICR, it is a good milestone in securing ownership of the national laboratory animal resource. The NIFDS expects that the Korl:ICR mice will be useful animal resource for our domestic researchers.

Keywords: Breeder; Korl:ICR stock; Outbred; Rodent.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interests: The authors declare that there is no financial conflict of interests to publish these results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. A phylogenetic tree showing the relationship between Korl:ICR and other ICR. The tree is unrooted. Values at nodes represent bootstrap support values (only values >50% are shown).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Physiological characteristics of Korl:ICR mice. (A) Body weights of ICR mice during 12 weeks. (B) Body length of ICR mice at the 12 weeks. (C-D) Percentage organ weight to body weight ratio of ICR mice (ANOVA, *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001, ns: not significant).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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