CELL MARKERS

You have grafted normal male donor hepatocytes into the liver of a female host mouse that has a disease due to the lack of a critical enzyme called liverase that is normally present in all hepatocytes.

You wish to know how many of these male donor cells are still present after 4 weeks. You can detect the male cells by hybridization with a Y-chromosome specific nucleic acid probe (that binds only to the male nucleus). In order to detect this Y-probe bound to male nuclei, the probe is labeled with radioisotope.

1. Suggest one way to quantitate ALL of the male donor cells in the total liver?
   
   
2. How would you determine WHERE the male donor cells are located?
   
   
3. Suggest another possible way to detect the normal donor hepatocytes within this original experimental design.
   
   
4. An alternative approach would be to use donor hepatocytes from a genetically engineered mouse, to provide a different marker for subsequent detection. Name 2 kinds of transgenic donor mice that could be used and indicate the method used to visualize the donor (transgenic) hepatocytes on tissue sections.