Tatsuo Kawarasaki, Kazuhiko Uchiyama, Atsushi Hirao, Sadahiro Azuma, Masayoshi Otake, Masatoshi Shibata, Seiko Tsuchiya, Shin Enosawa, Koichi Takeuchi, Kenjiro Konno, Yoji Hakamata, Hiroyuki Yoshino, Takuya Wakai, Shigeo Ookawara, Hozumi Tanaka, Eiji Kobayashi, Takashi Murakami
JOURNAL OF BIOMEDICAL OPTICS 14(5) 054017 2009年9月 査読有り
Animal imaging sources have become an indispensable material for biological sciences. Specifically, gene-encoded biological probes serve as stable and high-performance tools to visualize cellular fate in living animals. We use a somatic cell cloning technique to create new green fluorescent protein (GFP)-expressing Jinhua pigs with a miniature body size, and characterized the expression profile in various tissues/organs and ex vivo culture conditions. The born GFP-transgenic pig demonstrate an organ/tissue-dependent expression pattern. Strong GFP expression is observed in the skeletal muscle, pancreas, heart, and kidney. Regarding cellular levels, bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells, hepatocytes, and islet cells of the pancreas also show sufficient expression with the unique pattern. Moreover, the cloned pigs demonstrate normal growth and fertility, and the introduced GFP gene is stably transmitted to pigs in subsequent generations. The new GFP-expressing Jinhua pigs may be used as new cellular/tissue light resources for biological imaging in preclinical research fields such as tissue engineering, experimental regenerative medicine, and transplantation. (C) 2009 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. [DOI: 10.1117/1.3241985]