Construction of an allogenic chimeric mouse model for the study of the behaviors of donor stem cells in vivo.

Background: It is essential to establish an animal model for the elucidation of the biological behaviors of stem cells in vivo. We constructed a chimeric animal model by in utero transplantation for investigation of stem cell transplantation.

Methods: This chimerism was achieved by injecting the stem cells derived from the bone marrow of green fluorescence protein (GFP)-transgenic mice into fetal mice at 13.5 days of gestation. Several methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), real-time PCR, fluorescence-assisted cell sorting (FACS) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) were used for the observation of donor cells.

Results: Under a fluorescence microscope, we observed the GFP cells of donor-origin in a recipient. PCR, FACS analysis and FISH indicated chimerism at various intervals. Real-time PCR indicated that some donor cells existed in chimera for more than 6 months.

Conclusions: Allogenic stem cells may exist in recipients for a long time and this allogenic animal model provides a useful tool for studying the behavior of hematopoietic stem cells and also offers an effective model system for the study of stem cells.