Strain differences of cerebral ventricles in mice: can the MRL/MpJ mouse be a model for hydrocephalus?
Hydrocephalus is an intractable disease characterized by the excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the cerebral ventricles. There are many cases in both human and animals; however, the cause and mechanism of it's development is not clearly understood. In this study, differences of cerebral ventricles in 5 inbred mice strains (MRL/MpJ, C57BL/6, C3H/He, DBA/2 and BALB/c) were investigated by histological techniques to determine the possibility of a new animal model for hydrocephalus. Our analysis showed that significant differences in the volume and the surface area of lateral ventricles in the 5 inbred strains, with MRL/MpJ mice having the largest lateral, third, aqueduct and fourth ventricles. In addition, when MRL/MpJ mice were compared to BALB/c mice on 0 day after birth, the former already had larger lateral ventricles than the latter. Although there were no significant difference in the ratios of ependymal cell types in MRL/MpJ mice and BALB/c mice, the number and the diameter of lipid droplets in MRL/MpJ mice were, interestingly, smaller than those in BALB/c mice. It is well known that ependymal cells absorb nutritional substances in CSF by endocytosis, suggesting the possibility that their decrease may relate to the larger cerebral ventricles in MRL/MpJ. In conclusion, MRL/ MpJ mice have greater volumes in cerebral ventricles than other strains and may be useful for a model showing high susceptibility to hydrocephalus.
Hino
Keisuke
K
Laboratory of Anatomy, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0818, Japan.
Otsuka
Saori
S
Ichii
Osamu
O
Hashimoto
Yoshiharu
Y
Kon
Yasuhiro
Y
D000818:Animals; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006849:Hydrocephalus; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D019463:Mice, Inbred MRL lpr