Ablation Experiment

Name:
Ablation Experiment
Detailed information:
An experiment designed to produce an animal deficient in one or a few cell types in order to study cell lineage or cell function. The idea is to make a transgenic mouse with a toxin gene (often a diphtheria toxin) under control of a specialized promoter which activates only in the target cell type. When embryo development progresses to the point where it starts to form the target tissue, the toxin gene is activated, and the target tissue dies. Other tissues are unaffected.