Abstract
Publisher Summary This chapter reviews that the nude mouse has been used in studies on immunoparasitology, allergy, autoimmunity, immunity to infectious diseases, transplantation immunity, immunological surveillance, tumor immunobiology, and has also been used to expand various tumor cell lines as well as to maintain hybridomas for monoclonal antibody production. It discusses that the nude mouse, although athymic, is not completely immunologically incompetent. Functional T lymphocytes are practically absent, but the B cell system, while not normal, is present. The chapter reviews that some aspects of the defense system may be more developed in nude mice than in non-nude mice. For example, the nude mouse generally possesses higher titers of immunoglobulin M and greater NK activity than normal mice. Despite the presence of some degree of immunity, nude mice are subject to bacterial, parasitic, and viral infections and have a very short life span if raised in a conventional environment. Even when the mice are raised under specific pathogen-free conditions, the “normal flora” of the mice has a major impact and may cause dramatic variations in immunological parameters or even death of animals subjected to the stress of experimentation.
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