Transcription profiling by array of corpus striatum tissues from homozygous knockout mice (Gpr88cre/cre) versus wild-type mice (Gpr88+/+) to identify factors in the the signaling pathways downstream of Gpr88

Gpr88 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor highly expressed in the striatum, a region important for motor control and learning. We developed a mouse lacking this receptor (genotype Gpr88Cre/Cre) by replacing most of the open-reading-frame of the Gpr88 gene with Cre recombinase. When comparing the homozygous knockouts against wild-type mice (Gpr88+/+), we have observed that knockout mice are hyperactive, present motor deficits and impaired cue-based learning. However, the signaling pathways downstream of Gpr88 are unknown. To identify putative downstream factors we designed a microarray experiment to identify gene expression changes in the striata of animals lacking Gpr88.