Abstract
The cryobiology of mice has been investigated with the aim of identifying basic mechanisms of biological phenomena at cold temperatures and establishing cryotechnologies for mammalian cells. Recently, cryotechnologies have become essential to biological research using genetically engineered mice. Many cryopreserved embryos and sperm harvested from genetically engineered mice have been archived in mouse resource banks. Techniques of cryopreservation or cold storage of embryos or gametes are applied for the efficient production, preservation, and distribution of genetically engineered mice. Until now, we have studied the cryobiology of mouse embryos and gametes and developed various cryo- and related techniques to establish an efficient system of mouse resource bank. In this review, we describe the history and recent progress of the use of cryotechnologies for embryos and gametes stored in mouse resource banks.
