Fig. 1
From: Regulation of Th2 responses by different cell types expressing the interleukin-31 receptor
Generation of IL-31RA-deficient mice. To generate C57BL/6-IL-31RAtLacZ/+ knock-out (KO) mice, we used homologous recombination in embryonic stem (ES) cells to create a mutant allele in which exon 4 of the IL-31RA gene was replaced by a cassette expressing the selective marker neomycin transferase (a). Two recombinant ES cells were found to be IL-31RAtm1(LacZ). Chimeric mice were mated with C57BL/6 mice to produce mutant IL-31RA+/LacZ(+/−) progeny. The generation of mutant IL-31RA+/− mice was verified by Southern blot analysis (b). The IL-31RA+/− allele was then backcrossed to C57BL/6 mice for 15 more generations using male IL-31RA+/−. Homozygous IL-31RA−/− and WT (IL-31RA+/+) littermates were generated by intercrossing IL-31RA+/− mice from the 15th generations of backcrossed mice. Heterozygous IL-31RA+/− and homozygous IL-31RA−/− littermates were generated by crossing IL-31RA+/− mice with homozygous IL-31RA−/− mice. The expression of IL-31RA or beta-galactosidase of skin from IL-31RA+/+ and IL-31RA−/− mice was revealed by immunohistological staining with antibodies against each antigen (c)