Mouse chromosome 11 harbors genetic determinants of hippocampal strain-specific nicotinic receptor expression.
Differences between isogenic mouse strains in cellular expression of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor subunit alpha 4 (nAChR alpha 4) by the dorsal hippocampus are well known. To investigate further the genetic basis of these variations, expression of the nAChR alpha 4 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 nAChR alpha 4 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 nAChR alpha 4 expression.
SLC-VA GRECC and University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA. scott.rogers@hsc.utah.edu
Scott W
SW
Rogers
Janis J
JJ
Weis
Ying
Y
Ma
Cory
C
Teuscher
Lorise C
LC
Gahring
D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D015870:Gene Expression; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007395:Interneurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D020297:Mice, Congenic; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013045:Species Specificity
D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic