[Maintenance of inbred and genetic control--the significance in cancer research].

Implications of the maintenance of mouse inbred strains were discussed from the view point of experimental animals in the cancer research. Firstly, the genetically controlled inbred strains can provide us the experimental materials having homogeneous genetic characters. Secondly, they are able to serve as the reference by which we could equalize our experimental systems with the standard ones such as the stocks in the Jackson Laboratory. As to the markers for the genetic control of laboratory mice, the following four are introduced. (1) Morphological markers such as coat color genes: a, b, c and d. (2) Biochemical markers either in some serum proteins and in liver, kidney and erythrocytic allozymes. (3) Immunological markers, mainly H-2 private specificities. (4) Cytogenetical markers. Chromosome Q- and C-banding.