P2.25 Publically Accessible Databases Detailing Mouse Skin, Hair Follicle, Hair Fiber, and Nail Anatomy and Mutant Phenotypes including Cancer

John P. Sundberg¹, Paul Schofield², and Janan Eppig¹

¹The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, ME, USA and ²Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

Objectives: Our goal is to provide photomicrographs of normal and mutant mouse skin, hair follicles, hair fibers, and nails to 3 public databases that are currently available online.

Methods: Our large archive of 2 x 2 transparencies of mouse diseases is in the process of being digitized, images selected and annotated for proper anatomic nomenclature, and provided for uploading onto the Mouse Tumor Biology (http://tumor.informatics.jax.org), European Mouse Pathology (http://www.pathbase.net), and in the section under phenotypes in the Mouse Genome Informatics (http://www.informatics.jax.org/searches/allele_form.shtml) Databases. This is an ongoing process.

Results: Examples of normal anatomy of the mouse skin, hair and nails are now online. Systematic illustrations of skin and hair mutant mice are being added. The Jackson Laboratory as an international repository of mutant mice represents an endless supply of new materials. Specialized techniques, such as immunohistochemistry, are detailed with listings of antibodies that work in mouse tissues and under what conditions.

Conclusions: These resources address different goals but provide free access to information that can be difficult to find. The annotated images provide a reference for anatomical terms and phenotype illustrations will aid investigators in identifying useful models for experimentation.