title: Generation of a KOR-Cre knockin mouse strain to study cells involved in kappa opioid signaling.
abstract: The kappa opioid receptor (KOR) has numerous important roles in the nervous system including the modulation of mood, reward, pain, and itch. In addition, KOR is expressed in many non-neuronal tissues. However, the specific cell types that express KOR are poorly characterized. Here, we report the development of a KOR-Cre knockin allele, which provides genetic access to cells that express KOR. In this mouse, Cre recombinase (Cre) replaces the initial coding sequence of the Opkr1 gene (encoding the kappa opioid receptor). We demonstrate that the KOR-Cre allele mediates recombination by embryonic day 14.5 (E14.5). Within the brain, KOR-Cre shows expression in numerous areas including the cerebral cortex, nucleus accumbens and striatum. In addition, this allele is expressed in epithelium and throughout many regions of the body including the heart, lung, and liver. Finally, we reveal that KOR-Cre mediates recombination of a subset of bipolar and amacrine cells in the retina. Thus, the KOR-Cre mouse line is a valuable new tool for conditional gene manipulation to enable the study of KOR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.|Tsinghua University School of Medicine, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Huizhen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Marissa S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kuzirian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Lindsey M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Megumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matsushita
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.affiliation: Departments of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Gregg E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Homanics
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Alison L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and the Pittsburgh Center for Pain Research, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Ross
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D019426:Integrases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D023421:Models, Animal; D017473:Receptors, Opioid, kappa / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D017473:Receptors, Opioid, kappa; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases
keywords: Cre-loxP system; KOPr; OPRK1; genetics; opioid