The phenotypic characteristics of heterozygous reeler mouse : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

Genetics

Tueting, Patricia1,2; Costa, Erminio1; Dwivedi, Yogesh1; Guidotti, Alessandro1; Impagnatiello, Francesco1; Manev, Radmila1; Pesold, Christine1

1Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612, USA

2Corresponding Author: Patricia Tueting

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We wish to thank Huma Pandit, John Davis, and Vivek Mohan for their valuable assistance. The authors are also grateful to Dr A.M. Goffinet (University of Namur, Belgium) for the generous gift of the G-10 antibody.

Received 10 February 1999; accepted 26 February 1999

Abstract

Histological and behavioral traits are associated with reelin (Reln) haplo-insufficiency in heterozygous reeler mouse (rl/+/−). These phenotypic traits are an, ∼50% decrease of brain Reln mRNA and Reln protein, an accumulation of nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d)-positive neurons in subcortical white matter, an age-dependent decrease in prepulse inhibition of startle (PPI), and neophobic behavior on the elevated plus-maze. Possible analogies between these rl+/− phenotypic traits and signs of psychosis vulnerability are discussed.