Mouse chromosome 11 harbors genetic determinants of hippocampal strain-specific nicotinic receptor expression

✍ Scribed by Scott W. Rogers; Janis J. Weis; Ying Ma; Cory Teuscher; Lorise C. Gahring

• Book ID: 102242782
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 411 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1050-9631
• DOI: 10.1002/hipo.20454

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Differences between isogenic mouse strains in cellular expression of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor subunit alpha4 (nAChRα4) by the dorsal hippocampus are well known. To investigate further the genetic basis of these variations, expression of the nAChRα4 subunit was measured in congenic mouse lines derived from two strains exhibiting notable divergence in the expression of this subunit: C3H and C57BL/6. Congenic lines carrying reciprocally introgressed regions (quantitative trait loci; QTL) from chromosomes 4, 5, and 12 each retained the phenotype most closely associated with the parental strain. However, in congenic lines harboring the reciprocal transfer of a chromosome 11 QTL, a characteristic difference in the ratio of interneurons versus astrocytes expressing nAChRα4 in the CA1 region is reversed relative to the parental strain. These finding suggest that this chromosomal segment harbors genes that regulate strain distinct hippocampal morphology that is revealed by nAChRα4 expression. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.