nude mouse

noun

1. a virtually hairless mutant laboratory-bred mouse having a major immune system deficiency caused by a lack of T cells, and able to accept grafts of foreign tissue.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nude mouse¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

When implanted into a "nude mouse" with a suppressed immune system, it integrated well and sprouted hairs.

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We think this possibility is remote because analysis of the early xenografts, which contained contaminating nude mouse DNAs, failed to detect XMRV.

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