Specificity and efficiency of tamoxifen-mediated Cre induction is equivalent regardless of age
Collyn M. Kellogg,
Kevin Pham,
Sunghwan Ko,
Jillian E.J. Cox,
Adeline H. Machalinski,
Michael B. Stout,
Amanda L. Sharpe,
Michael J. Beckstead,
Ana J. Chucair-Elliott,
Sarah R. Ocañas,
Willard M. Freeman
Affiliations
Collyn M. Kellogg
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Kevin Pham
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Sunghwan Ko
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Jillian E.J. Cox
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Adeline H. Machalinski
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Michael B. Stout
Aging & Metabolism Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Amanda L. Sharpe
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Michael J. Beckstead
Aging & Metabolism Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Ana J. Chucair-Elliott
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Sarah R. Ocañas
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Department of Physiology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Willard M. Freeman
Genes & Human Disease Program, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Corresponding author
Summary: Temporally controlling Cre recombination through tamoxifen (Tam) induction has many advantages for biomedical research. Most studies report early post-natal/juvenile (12 m.o.). While anecdotally reported as problematic, there are no published comparisons of Tam-mediated Cre induction at early and late ages. Here, microglial-specific Cx3cr1creERT2 mice were crossed to a floxed NuTRAP reporter to compare Cre induction at early (3–6 m.o.) and late (20 m.o.) ages. Specificity and efficiency of microglial labeling at 21–22 m.o. were identical in mice induced with Tam at early and late ages. Age-related microglial translatomic changes were also similar regardless of Tam induction age. Each Cre and flox mouse line should be independently validated, however, these findings demonstrate that Tam-mediated Cre induction can be performed even into older mouse ages and should be generalizable to other inducible Cre models.
