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Hermaphroditism in 3 Chimeric Mice

Tri-Institutional Training Program in Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Rockefeller University, and Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY (AM); Research Animal Resource Center and Laboratory of Comparative Pathology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY (KMDL)

Abstract

Hermaphroditism was diagnosed in three, 6-month-old, male, chimeric mice generated by microinjection of 129/Ola XY recombinant embryonic stem cells into unsexed C57BL/6 blastocysts. Grossly, mice Nos. 1 and 2 had perigenital masses and hydrometra. All mice had unilateral ovaries and cystic endometrial hyperplasia. Mice Nos. 1 and 3 also had contralateral testes and epididymides. Histologically, mice Nos. 1 and 3 were true hermaphrodites with unilateral ovotestes, while mouse No. 2 was a pseudohermaphrodite with ovarian tissue only. The presence of a uterus with cystic endometrial hyperplasia in these mice resembles XY pseudohermaphroditism in miniature schnauzers. The mice were determined to be 95 to 100% chimeric via haircoat color; however, the presence of both male and female sex organs in these phenotypically male mice suggests otherwise. Published reports note incidences for sex chimeras and hermaphroditism in genetically engineered mice of 50% and 20%, respectively. Hermaphroditism is expected to increase as the numbers of chimeric mice rise with technical advances in genetic engineering.

Key words: Chimera; genetically engineered; hermaphrodite; mouse.

Request reprints from K. M. D. La Perle, DVM, PhD, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Research Animal Resource Center, Z931, PO Box 270, 1275 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021 (USA). E-mail: laperlek{at}mskcc.org

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