NONHUMAN ANIMAL EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS AND NONHUMAN ANIMALS HAVING VARIANT SMOOTH MUSCLE MYOSIN HEAVY-CHAIN GENES

摘要

Cells and nonhuman animals which are usable as novel test materials in biomedical studies on the role of smooth muscle myosin heavy-chain in blood vessels, etc., physiological functions thereof, gene expression mechanism thereof, etc., usable as test systems in studies for evaluating drugs for arteriosclerosis, etc., and useful in identifying cells with the expression of the smooth muscle myosin heavy chain. These cells and nonhuman animals and offsprings thereof contain variant genes which hardly act as the smooth muscle myosin heavy-chain gene due to the partial or total deletion of the smooth muscle myosin heavy-chain gene (SM1 or SM2) derived from chromosome or insertion or substitution of other gene(s).