Fig. 1.

Derivation of mice with hepatcoyte-specific deletion of protein tyrosine phosphatase of liver regeneration-1 (Prl-1). A: scheme for derivation of a conditional Prl-1 null allele. Two loxP sites were inserted to flank exons 2 through 4 of the Prl-1 gene by homologous recombination in mouse embryonic stem cells. The FRT-flanked neomycin resistance cassette was removed by transient transfection with a Flp-recombinase expression plasmid. B: for gene ablation in hepatocytes, Prl-1^loxP mice were bred to AlfpCre mice to obtain Prl-1^loxP/loxP;AlfpCre mice. The deletion of Prl-1 in the liver was confirmed by RT-PCR. +/+, Control mice, the length of the wild-type Prl-1 transcript is 1,524 bp; −/−, mutant (Prl-1^loxP/loxP;AlfpCre) mice, the length of the smaller transcript is 507 bp. C: the liver and body weight of 5-wk-old male and female mice were measured to calculate the liver-to-body weight ratio (n = 5).