Batf3 mice 013755

Six- to eight-week-old female foxn1-null nude (athymic nude) mice were purchased from the Duke University Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (originally obtained from Jackson Laboratory, 007850). Six- to eight-week-old female C57BL/6, OTI (on a C57BL/6 background), and OTII mice (on a C57BL/6 background) were purchased from Charles River Laboratories. Six- to eight-week-old female Batf3^−/− mice (013755) ^{31 (link)} were purchased from Jackson Laboratory. All mice were housed at an ambient temperature of 72°F (~22.22°C), with a humidity of 30–70%, and a light cycle of 12-hour on/12-hour off set from 7am to 7pm. All mice were maintained under specific pathogen-free conditions and animal procedures were reviewed and approved by the Duke University Animal Care and Use Committee. Animal care was carried out under institutional and National Institutes of Health protocols and guidelines.

Eight-week-old female C57BL/6J (stock no: 000664) and breeding pairs of the basic leucine zipper transcription factor ATF-like 3 knockout (Batf3^−/−)mice (013755) were purchased from Jackson Laboratories (Bar Harbor,ME). All animals were acclimated for at least two weeks prior to use for the experiments. Batf3^−/− mice were bred at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). We performed all animal procedures following the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care of Laboratory Animals. All animal procedures were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of MGH (2009N000103).