About   Help   FAQ
Phenotypes Associated with This Genotype
Genotype
MGI:3665288
Allelic
Composition
Tg(Gfap-TK)7.1Mvs/0
Genetic
Background
involves: C57BL/10 * CBA * CFLP
Find Mice Using the International Mouse Strain Resource (IMSR)
Mouse lines carrying:
Tg(Gfap-TK)7.1Mvs mutation (2 available)
phenotype observed in females
phenotype observed in males
N normal phenotype
mortality/aging
• untreated nontransgenic mice show no effects beyond reduced activity and ruffled fur after 28 days of 100 mg/kg/day ganciclovir (GCV) treatment
• when treated with GCV up to 7 days, mice survive for at least 35 days; when treated for 14 days then stopped, mice become terminally ill and death occurs between 13 and 19 days (100% mortality) with or without a brain injury

homeostasis/metabolism
• many CA1 neurons in GCV-treated mice show morphological signs of excitotoxic cell death, compared to control mice
• transgenic mice receiving GCV for 14 days have mildly (30%) elevated serum urea levels
• moribund treated transgenics have 3-fold elevated serum urea levels compared to untreated controls
• in some affected mice, interstitial edema separating the epithelium from the lamina propria is observed
• in GCV-treated transgenic mice, a substantial increase in myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, a quantitative measure of inflammatory response, in ileum not duodenum or colon compared to nontransgenic mice
• untreated nontransgenic mice show no effects beyond reduced activity and ruffled fur after 28 days of 100 mg/kg/day ganciclovir (GCV) treatment
• when treated with GCV up to 7 days, mice survive for at least 35 days; when treated for 14 days then stopped, mice become terminally ill and death occurs between 13 and 19 days (100% mortality) with or without a brain injury
• GCV-treated transgenic mice show reactive astrocyte death and impaired glial scar formation after stab injury to the brain

digestive/alimentary system
• surface exhibits areas of superficial erosion covered with inflammatory exudates and cellular debris
• villus atrophy is minor, but villi exhibit patchy lesions ranging from mild epithelial changes and nonspecific granulocytic infiltrate to marked hemorrhagic necrosis
• villus tips show flattening, vacuolization and loss of polarity of surface epithelium; loss of brush border and pronounced dilation of capillaries with erythrostasis with chronic GCV treatment
• villi in severely affected regions can show disintegration of the tips resulting in a hemorrhagic and inflammatory exudates into the lumen of intestine
• lamina propria becomes inflamed in affected mice; fibrosis of, and hemorrhage into lamina propria can be seen in severe cases
• surface exhibits areas of superficial erosion covered with inflammatory exudates and cellular debris in trangenics after chronic GCV treatment
• progressive changes include increased sloughing of epithelial cells
• some treated animals with severe pathology show loss of goblet cells
• a significant 50% increase in crypt depth is seen with chronic GCV treatment
• progressive changes include crypt hyperplasia
• ileum and jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV (100 mg/kg/day) for >11 days exhibit moderate distention
• small intestine shows patchy skip lesions ranging from small inflammatory foci to large apthoid and linear ulcers exhibiting gangrenous necrosis in extreme cases
• inflammation and hemorrhagic necrosis of the submucosa and muscularis externa can be seen in severely affected regions
• ileum of affected mice is generally more severely affected than jejunum; lesions occur with equal frequency within the proximal, central or distal portions
• some areas of severely affected ileal mucosa is associated with necrosis of the underlying smooth muscle and transmural perforation
• the smooth muscle wall of the ileum shows an obvious 100% thickening
• ileum of transgenics treated with GCV (100 mg/kg/day) for >11 days exhibits moderate distention
• jejunum of GCV-treated mice displays similar pathology to the ileum, but usually with less severity
• jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV (100 mg/kg/day) for >11 days exhibits moderate distention
• transgenic mice receiving 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 14 show growth of gram-negative organisms (>300 colonies per spleen or ml of blood or peritoneal fluid) while controls have none
• GCV-treated mice have a 10- to 100-fold increase in numbers of aerobic and anaerobic bacterial colonies per gram tissue in ileum compared to untreated or GVC-treated nontransgenic mice
• ileum and jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV for >11 days exhibit hemorrhage
• the fecal contents of transgenic mice given GCV for >11 days are black, melanic and test positive for occult blood
• ileum and jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV for >11 days show severe inflammation
• progression changes in inflammation lead to increased transmigration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes leading to granulocytic inflammatory infiltrate of lamina propria

nervous system
N
• uninjured transgenic mice receiving 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 14-17 days show no evidence of neuronal damage or astrocyte loss throughout the CNS
• in treated control mice and untreated transgenic mice, blood-brain barrier (BBB) is repaired and resealed by 14 days after injury where stab injury damage occurred; GCV-treated transgenics still show BBB disruption by IgG entry into CNS parenchyma at 35 days after injury
• many CA1 neurons in GCV-treated mice show morphological signs of excitotoxic cell death, compared to control mice
• in transgenic mice treated daily with low-dose ganciclovir (GCV), number of dividing cells decreases substantially in subependymal zone (SEZ) to 18.6% of controls and in subgranular zone (SGZ) to 29.6% of control
• transgenic mice treated chronically (14 days) with low-dose GCV have almost no newly generated neurons in SEZ, SGZ, or rostral migratory stream (RMS); in olfactory bulb 0% of neurons are NeuN-positive and in dentate gyrus only 1.8% are positive compared to controls (>98% reduction in neurogenesis)
• in GCV-treated mutants, at 7 days after stab injury, there is marked interstitial edema within 400 microns of wound with numerous phagocytic and inflammatory cells and substantial neuronal degeneration
• blood vessels are dilated, a 25-fold greater density of leukocytes are present and persist for 14 days, and extravasated leukocytes (monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes) are common up to 2 mm from wound
• many microglia are seen adjacent to wound at 7 or 14 days and at 35 days, numerous leukocytes are still observed, while non-transgenic GCV-treated and transgenic untreated show little edema, a low density of leukocytes scattered around wound, and extravasated monocytes are rarely found in parenchyma at >1 mm from wound margin
• after 14 days of GCV treatment, transgenic mice show pronounced loss of glial (GFAP +ve) cells from myenteric plexus in jejunum and ileum; widespread loss from submucosal regions and lamina propria of villi throughout jejunum and ileum is seen
• the dense network of glial cell processes that envelop the myenteric neurons in controls is markedly depleted in transgenic mice receiving GCV for 14 days
• in areas where many glial cells are absent, neuronal atrophy and loss can be observed
• in transgenics after GCV treatment there are 31% fewer myenteric neurons and remaining neurons have a 27% smaller mean cross-sectional area
• GCV-treated mice by 21 or 35 days after stab injury show few surviving pyramidal neurons within 1500 microns of wound and extensive tissue collapse; in control mice, region with no neurons extends <100 microns from the wound
• loss of neurons is seen in all brain tissue around the stab injury in GCV-treated transgenics
• remaining enteric glia after 14 days of GCV treatment are abnormal
• after a stabbing injury to the forebrain, transgenic mice treated with ganciclovir (GCV) subcutaneously for 7 or 14 days show a reduction in astrocytes immediately adjacent to wound and for several hundred microns away, most strikingly the thalamus
• death of astrocytes immediately next to the wound triggers extensive astrocytosis in outwardly adjacent cells compared to controls
• GCV-treated mutants show a dense network of many finely branched, randomly-oriented fibers with a sprouting appearance comfined to the wound margin and not extending into unaffected regions while control mice show very few fibers in scar-forming region
• loss of enteric glia results in a patchy, moderate degeneration of neurons intrinsic to the ileal myenteric plexus (J:104241)
• marked degeneration in the wound region is observed 7 days after injury in GCV-treated transgenics (J:113202)
• transgenic astrocytes are sensitive to prolonged exposure to subcutaneous GCV, resulting in cell death
• after a stab injury to brain and continuous GCV delivery in vivo for 7 or 14 days, transgenic mice show few astrocytes adjacent to wound margin and astrocytes in adjacent tissue look fragmented and abnormal (early stages of cell death)

hematopoietic system
• moribund treated transgenics display severe anemia
• transgenic mice receiving 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 14 days have red blood cell counts reduced by 60%
• transgenic mice receiving GCV for 14 days show a 10-fold increase in nucleated red blood cells
• moribund treated transgenics have high levels of nucleated red blood cells
• transgenic mice receiving 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 14 days show 20-fold increase in neutrophils
• moribund treated transgenics have a high level of neutrophils relative to the number of red blood cells

immune system
• transgenic mice receiving 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 14 days show 20-fold increase in neutrophils
• moribund treated transgenics have a high level of neutrophils relative to the number of red blood cells
• transgenic mice given 100 mg/kg/day GCV for 7 days show small patches of focal inflammation in the GI tract
• ileum and jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV for >11 days show severe inflammation
• progression changes in inflammation lead to increased transmigration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes leading to granulocytic inflammatory infiltrate of lamina propria
• in GCV-treated mutants, at 7 days after stab injury, there is marked interstitial edema within 400 microns of wound with numerous phagocytic and inflammatory cells and substantial neuronal degeneration
• blood vessels are dilated, a 25-fold greater density of leukocytes are present and persist for 14 days, and extravasated leukocytes (monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, and lymphocytes) are common up to 2 mm from wound
• many microglia are seen adjacent to wound at 7 or 14 days and at 35 days, numerous leukocytes are still observed, while non-transgenic GCV-treated and transgenic untreated show little edema, a low density of leukocytes scattered around wound, and extravasated monocytes are rarely found in parenchyma at >1 mm from wound margin

endocrine/exocrine glands
• a significant 50% increase in crypt depth is seen with chronic GCV treatment
• progressive changes include crypt hyperplasia

cellular
• some treated animals with severe pathology show loss of goblet cells
• in enriched subconfluent astrocyte cultures from neonatal mice, exposure to GCV for 7 days or more caused a 75% loss of astrocytes (GFAP +ve cells) with an increase in GFAP -ve cells compared to nontransgenic cultures
• many CA1 neurons in GCV-treated mice show morphological signs of excitotoxic cell death, compared to control mice
• ileum ulcers exhibiting gangrenous necrosis in extreme cases
• in transgenic mice treated daily with low-dose ganciclovir (GCV), number of dividing cells decreases substantially in subependymal zone (SEZ) to 18.6% of controls and in subgranular zone (SGZ) to 29.6% of control
• transgenic mice treated chronically (14 days) with low-dose GCV have almost no newly generated neurons in SEZ, SGZ, or rostral migratory stream (RMS); in olfactory bulb 0% of neurons are NeuN-positive and in dentate gyrus only 1.8% are positive compared to controls (>98% reduction in neurogenesis)
• non-transgenic animals with or without GCV treatment show many proliferating astrocytes in narrow zone adjacent to stab wound associated with compact glial scar formation, but in GCV-treated mutants, essentially all proliferating astrocytes are ablated

cardiovascular system
• ileum and jejunum of transgenics treated with GCV for >11 days exhibit hemorrhage
• in treated control mice and untreated transgenic mice, blood-brain barrier (BBB) is repaired and resealed by 14 days after injury where stab injury damage occurred; GCV-treated transgenics still show BBB disruption by IgG entry into CNS parenchyma at 35 days after injury

reproductive system
• male transgenic mice are sterile


Contributing Projects:
Mouse Genome Database (MGD), Gene Expression Database (GXD), Mouse Models of Human Cancer database (MMHCdb) (formerly Mouse Tumor Biology (MTB)), Gene Ontology (GO)
Citing These Resources
Funding Information
Warranty Disclaimer, Privacy Notice, Licensing, & Copyright
Send questions and comments to User Support.
last database update
04/09/2024
MGI 6.23
The Jackson Laboratory