We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Improvement in identification of pro-estrous mice by using a novel method of detecting vaginal mucous cells.
- Authors
Sugiyama, Makoto; Yasunaga, Arata; Kobayashi, Ryosuke; Fukasawa, Hanae; Hashimoto, Osamu; Kurusu, Shiro; Sasada, Hiroshi; Yoshioka, Kazuki
- Abstract
Accurate identification of the murine estrous cycle using vaginal exfoliative cytology is the initial and crucial step for controlled reproduction of this species. However, it is generally difficult to discriminate each stage of the cycle, and thus to select pro-estrous mice for mating. To increase the accuracy of identification of the pro-estrous stage, we re-evaluated the vaginal fold histology and modified the method of exfoliative cytology. Tissue fixation using methanol in Carnoy's solution but not paraformaldehyde, combined with Alcian blue staining but not the conventional Giemsa staining, resulted in better manifestation of mucosal cell layers in the vaginal epithelium just above the keratinized layer. This mucous layer in the fold histology was found to form specifically in the pro-estrous and late di-estrous stages, and the mucous cells exfoliated in smear samples only in the pro-estrous stage. This novel method was found, by a blinded test, to increase the rate of accurate identification of the pro-estrous stage compared to the conventional method (80% vs 50%). Consistent with this finding, the mating experiment with "pro-estrous" females selected by the novel method revealed a significantly higher success rate than that with the conventional method (78.0% vs 47.5%). Thus, our study demonstrates vaginal exfoliative mucous cells as a better potential marker to detect the "receptive" state of female mice that leads to an improved success rate of mating.
- Subjects
ESTRUS; EXFOLIATIVE cytology; MICE; TISSUE fixation (Histology); STAINS &; staining (Microscopy); POLYOXYMETHYLENE
- Publication
Cell & Tissue Research, 2021, Vol 383, Issue 3, p1183
- ISSN
0302-766X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00441-020-03310-w