Retinoic acid receptors are required for skeletal growth, matrix homeostasis and growth plate function in postnatal mouse.

The retinoic acid receptors alpha, beta and gamma (RARalpha, RARbeta and RARgamma) are nuclear hormone receptors that regulate fundamental processes during embryogenesis, but their roles in skeletal development and growth remain unclear. To study skeletal-specific RAR function, we created conditional mouse mutants deficient in RAR expression in cartilage. We find that mice deficient in RARalpha and RARgamma (or RARbeta and RARgamma) exhibit severe growth retardation obvious by about 3 weeks postnatally.

The maintenance diets of C57BL/6J and 129X1/SvJ mice influence their taste solution preferences: implications for large-scale phenotyping projects.

We examined the extent to which maintenance diet influences the taste preferences of mice. C57BL/6J (B6) and 129X1/SvJ (129) mice were fed one of three standard cereal-based diets (Teklad 8604, Zeigler NIH-07, Purina 5001), a cereal-based diet formulated for breeding (Purina 5015), or two purified diets (AIN-76A or AIN-93G). The mice were given 48-h two-bottle choice tests between water and the following seven taste solutions: 2 mmol/L saccharin, 5 mmol/L citric acid, 50 mmol/L citric acid, 30 micro mol/L quinine hydrochloride (QHCl), 300 micro mol/L QHCl, 75 mmol/L NaCl, and 10% ethanol.