Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology

Volume 107, Issue 6, December 1994, Pages 1726-1735
Gastroenterology

Spontaneous, heritable colitis in a new substrain of C3H/HeJ mice

https://doi.org/10.1016/0016-5085(94)90813-3Get rights and content

Abstract

Background/Aims: C3H/HeJ mice at the Jackson Laboratory have periodically been culled because of the occurrence of soft feces, perianal ulceration, and rightsided colitis. No pathogens have been isolated. The goal of the current study was to establish a substrain with a high incidence of this disease. Methods: Affected male and female C3H/HeJ mice were bred. The clinical, pathological, microbiological, and genetic features of 216 mice of the resulting pedigree were characterized. Results: A severely affected female crossed with a normal male resulted in a new substrain, denoted C3H/HeJBir, with a high incidence of right-sided colitis. Histologically, lesions occurred primarily in the cecum and proximal colon, characterized by acute and chronic inflammation, crypt abscesses, ulcerations, regenerative hyperplasia, and submucosal scarring. Such colitis peaked at 3–6 weeks; however, similar disease was found sporadically in animals more than 1 year of age. Small lesions at the anorectal junction were common throughout life. An extensive search for pathogens was negative. Genetic analysis of C3H/HeJBir mice suggested that the disease was inherited as a quantitative trait. Conclusions: C3H/HeJBir mice develop a spontaneous, heritable form of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease and will be a valuable resource for genetic and immunologic studies of this disease.

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      Colitis spontaneously occurs in these mouse strains. C3H/HeJBir, which was selectively bred from C3H/HeJ with colitis symptoms, has higher B cell and T cell reactivity to enteric bacterial antigens (Elson et al., 2000; Sundberg et al., 1994). Genetic analysis showed that the high incidence of colitis involves multiple genes and is inherited as a quantitative trait (Mahler et al., 1998).

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    Supported by a grant from the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (to E.H.B., J.P.S.); the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (to J.P.S.); and by grant DK44240 from the National Institutes of Health (to C.O.E., E.H.B., J.P.S.).

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