Bone Marrow Transplantations to Study Gene Function in Hematopoietic Cells

Abstract

Immune cells are derived from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. Experimental replacement of bone marrow offers the unique possibility to replace immune cells, to study gene function in mouse models of disease. Over the past decades, this technique has been used extensively to study, for instance, macrophage function in atherosclerosis. In this chapter, we describe the methods for both full bone marrow transplantations and T cell-specific transfers.