| Non-Scientific
Abstract Human perception depends on a brain region
called the thalamus.Virtually all sensory and motor information must
first pass through the thalamus before it can be processed in the
cerebral cortex. Previous studies have indicated that this brain region
is additionally involved in rhythmic activities, such as rapid eye
movement during the period of sleep which dreaming occurs, and memory
consolidation during sleep. Unfortunately, there is little known about
these functions. In order to learn more about the thalamus, we have
generated a family of mice that can be used to develop mice with gene
deletions in thalamic cells. This study characterizes the specific brain
regions of the mice that will potentially allow deletions.We have shown
that deletions can occur in the thalamus. In future studies, the mouse
line can be crossed with various other lines to develop mice with
deletions in thalamic cells. These mice will be useful for genetic
studies on the functions of the thalamus, and will hopefully provide a
better understanding of processes occurring during sleep.
Abstract Virtually all sensory and motor
information must first pass through the thalamus before it can be
processed in the cerebral cortex. Previous studies have indicated that
the thalamus is additionally involved in rhythmic activities and memory
consolidation that occur during sleep. Unfortunately, there is little
known about these functions. In order to learn more about thalamus,we
have generated a mouse line that expresses Cre recombinase in thalamic
cells. This transgenic line carries the Cre transgene under the control
of the promoter of the gene encoding the potassium channel Kv3.2. The
restricted expression pattern of the Kv3.2-Cre transgene in this mouse
line was analyzed using the reporter line ROSA26. Our results show that
the Kv3.2-mediated Cre expression is restricted to the CA3 region of the
hippocampus and throughout the dorsal regions of the thalamus.We
additionally determined the time dependence of Cre recombination in the
transgenic line, confirming that full recombination does not occur until
adulthood. The Kv3.2-Cre mouse line can potentially be crossed with
various other mouse lines containing loxP flanked target genes to
develop mice with thalamic-specific deletions. This mouse line will be a
useful resource for genetic studies on the functions of the thalamus.
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