In vivo transplantation of genetically modified mouse embryonic epidermis.

Abstract

Situations in which epidermal mutant mice display early lethality after birth are rather frequent. This condition precludes any kind of analysis of adult or even newborn mice tissues. We propose the in vivo embryonic skin transplantation as an alternative to solve this problem. This method allows the generation of a stable epidermal tissue that mimics the specific mutant adult epidermis. It also reproduces the phenotypic consequences and susceptibility to tumorigenesis, enabling multiple studies. Moreover, different recipient mice can help in determining problems such as different inflammation processes or the contribution of dermal cells to the different phenotypes.