Clinical and pathologic conditions of female nude (athymic) mice in two conventional maintained colonies.

Two colonies of female outbred nude (athymic) mice were maintained by conventional standards of husbandry, but with special sanitary methods and segregation from other rodents. A total of 1,526 mice entered the colonies. Of these, 802 were untreated and most remained healthy. Necropsies were performed on 312 untreated mice that were sick and were killed or died naturally, and the tissues were examined microscopically. Clinical and pathologic conditions in the untreated mice included subcutaneous abscessation, dermatitis, subcutaneous edema due to glomerulonephritis (nephrotic syndrome), rectal prolapse, and lymphomas and other neoplasms.