SPC-Cre-ERT2 transgenic mouse for temporal gene deletion in alveolar epithelial cells

PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e46076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0046076. Epub 2012 Sep 25.

Abstract

Although several Cre-loxP-based gene knockout mouse models have been generated for the study of gene function in alveolar epithelia in the lung, their applications are still limited. In this study, we developed a SPC-Cre-ER(T2) mouse model, in which a tamoxifen-inducible Cre recombinase (Cre-ER(T2)) is under the control of the human surfactant protein C (SPC) promoter. The specificity and efficiency of Cre-ER(T2) activity was first evaluated by crossing SPC-Cre-ER(T2) mouse with ROSA26R mouse, a β-galactosidase reporter strain. We found that Cre-ER(T2) was expressed in 30.7% type II alveolar epithelial cells of SPC-Cre-ER(T2)/ROSA26R mouse lung tissues in the presence of tamoxifen. We then tested the tamoxifen-inducible recombinase activity of Cre-ER(T2) in a mouse strain bearing TSC1 conditional knockout alleles (TSC1(fx/fx)). TSC1 deletion was detected in the lungs of tamoxifen treated SPC-Cre-ER(T2)/TSC1(fx/fx) mice. Therefore this SPC-Cre-ER(T2) mouse model may be a valuable tool to investigate functions of genes in lung development, physiology and disease.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Epithelial Cells / drug effects
  • Epithelial Cells / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Expression / drug effects
  • Gene Expression / genetics
  • Humans
  • Integrases / genetics*
  • Lung / drug effects
  • Lung / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Pulmonary Alveoli / cytology*
  • Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C / genetics*
  • Tamoxifen / pharmacology
  • beta-Galactosidase / genetics
  • beta-Galactosidase / metabolism

Substances

  • Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein C
  • SFTPC protein, human
  • Tamoxifen
  • Cre recombinase
  • Integrases
  • beta-Galactosidase

Grants and funding

The work was supported by the 973 Program of China (2009CB522106). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.