title: Alteration of NO-producing system in the basal forebrain and hypothalamus of Ts65Dn mice: an immunohistochemical and histochemical study of a murine model for Down syndrome.
abstract: Ts65Dn mice have been developed as a model for Down syndrome (DS). Because of its involvement in complex behaviors, including sexual and aggressive behaviors, we investigated the nitric oxide (NO) system in specific brain regions of these mutant mice (TS) after isolation-induced aggression. Male TS mice displayed significantly higher aggression than wild type (WT) mice and the comparison of the NO system, both with immunohistochemical and histochemical methods, resulted in robust differences between TS and WT mice in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, in the nucleus of the diagonal band and in the medial septum, but not in the striatum of TS mice. In conclusion, we document alterations in the neuronal NO system of the TS mouse model of DS, suggesting a correlation of the behavioral aggressiveness with deficient NO production.
authors.affiliation: Rita Levi Montalcini Center for Brain Repair, Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Forensic Medicine, University of Torino, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gotti
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiavegatto
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sica
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Viglietti-Panzica
authors.forename: Randy J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: GianCarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Panzica
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D009569:Nitric Oxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000378:metabolism; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009569:Nitric Oxide; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; D052248:Nitric Oxide Synthase Type I; C496321:Nos1 protein, mouse; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase