title: Altered sensitivity to excitotoxic cell death and glutamate receptor expression between two commonly studied mouse strains.
abstract: Alterations in glutamatergic synapse function have been implicated in the pathogenesis of many different neurological disorders, including ischemia, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease. While studying glutamate receptor function in juvenile Batten disease on the C57BL/6J and 129S6/S(v)E(v) mouse backgrounds, we noticed differences unlikely to be due to mutation difference alone. We report here that primary cerebellar granule cell cultures from C57BL/6J mice are more sensitive to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated cell death. Moreover, sensitivity to AMPA-mediated excitotoxicity is more variable and is dependent on the treatment conditions and age of the cultures. Glutamate receptor surface expression levels examined in vitro by in situ ELISA and in vivo by Western blot in surface cross-linked cerebellar samples indicated that these differences in sensitivity likely are due to strain-dependent differences in cell surface receptor expression levels. We propose that differences in glutamate receptor expression and in excitotoxic vulnerability should be taken into consideration in the context of characterizing disease models on the C57BL/6J and 129S6/S(v)E(v) mouse backgrounds.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Development and Disease, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Rozzy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: Attila D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Kovács
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pearce
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016202:N-Methylaspartate / Q000633:toxicity; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D011744:Pyrimidinones / Q000633:toxicity; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D013045:Species Specificity; D018350:alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: C443679:CPW 399; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D009498:Neurotoxins; D011744:Pyrimidinones; D017470:Receptors, Glutamate; D016202:N-Methylaspartate; D018350:alpha-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid; D000409:Alanine