Color-Engineered Rats and Luminescent Imaging: Innovation to Visualize Biological Processes

Abstract

The rat represents an excellent mammalian model for broadening medical knowledge, and a wealth of information on its physiology has been obtained from its use as an experimental organism. Its ample body size allows various surgical manipulations that cannot be performed on a mouse. Many rat models mimic human diseases and have therefore been used in a variety of biomedical studies. In an effort to create specifically designed rats for new biomedical research and the field of regenerative medicine, we developed an engineered rat system on the basis of transgenic technology and have succeeded in establishing unique rats that possess genetically encoded color probes. In this review, we describe the potential of the photogenic transgenic rat that expresses fluorescent and/or luminescent proteins, and focus on the characteristic migration of MSCs to injury and tumor sites. In addition, we will discuss an efficient delivery method for targeting the injured site. Synergized with modern advances in optical imaging, the photogenic rat system provides innovative preclinical tools and a new platform on which to further our understanding of matters concerning stem cell biology.