A Procedure for Culture of Cells From Mouse Tail Biopsies: Brief Communication 1,2

ABSTRACT-A simple technique was developed for production of cell cultures from mouse tails, The use of mouse tail tissue for biopsies made repeated sampling of animals possible without their health or breeding performance being Jeopardized. The procedure proved to be particularly useful in studies of murine leukemia viruses, because it allowed virus induction and Fv-1 gene-typing tests to be done on biopsy tissue from adult ani-mals.-J Natl Cancer In5t 60:477-478, 1978. In the course of our studies on the genetic transmis· sion of MulV (1, 2), the ability to type mice for attributes that required growth of their cells in tissue culture became increasingly important. Biopsy proce-dures that involved removal of an organ, such as the kidney or spleen, involved some risk and could not be done repeatedly. Cultures from skin biopsies, althoug