Gastric pit cells are high-turnover epithelial cells of the gastric mucosa. They secrete mucus to protect the gastric epithelium from acid and pepsin. To investigate the genetic mechanisms underlying the physiological functions of gastric pit cells, we generated a transgenic mouse line, namely, Capn8-Cre, in which the expression of Cre recombinase was controlled by the promoter of the intracellular Ca(2+)-regulated cysteine protease calpain-8. To test the tissue distribution and excision activity of Cre recombinase, the Capn8-Cre transgenic mice were bred with the ROSA26 reporter strain and a mouse strain that carries Smad4 conditional alleles (Smad4(Co/Co)). Multiple-tissue PCR and LacZ staining demonstrated that Capn8-Cre transgenic mouse expressed Cre recombinase in the gastric pit cells. Cre recombinase activity was also detected in the liver and skin tissues. These data suggest that the Capn8-Cre mouse line described here could be used to dissect gene function in gastric pit cells.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.