Expression data from mouse ventral midbrain

The circadian nature of mood and its dysfunction in affective disorders is well recognized, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear. We showed that the circadian nuclear receptor REV-ERBa, which is associated with bipolar disorder, impacts midbrain dopamine production and mood-related behavior in mice. Genetic deletion of the Rev-erba gene or pharmacological inhibition of REV-ERBa activity in the ventral midbrain induced mania-like behavior in association with a central hyperdopaminergic state. We used microarrays to identify differentially expressed genes in the ventral midbrains of wild-type (WT) and Rev-erba knock-out (RKO) mice. Male RKO and WT mice (10-15 weeks of age) were maintained in a C57BL/6J background. Mice were housed in temperature-controlled (22-23ºC) quarters under a 12-h light-dark (LD) photoperiod (lights on at 8:00 a.m.). After entrainment for >10 days under LD conditions, mice were kept in constant darkness (DD) for 2 days starting at lights-off time. On the third day, mice were sacrificed at indicated time points by cervical dislocation.情绪的昼夜节律特性及其在情感障碍中的功能异常已得到广泛认可，但其潜在的分子机制仍不明确。我们发现，与双相情感障碍相关的昼夜节律核受体（circadian nuclear receptor）REV-ERBa可影响小鼠的中脑多巴胺生成与情绪相关行为。在腹侧中脑内敲除Rev-erba基因或通过药物抑制REV-ERBa活性，可诱导产生躁狂样行为，并伴随中枢多巴胺能亢进状态。本研究通过微阵列（microarrays）鉴定了野生型（wild-type，缩写WT）与Rev-erba基因敲除（Rev-erba knock-out，缩写RKO）小鼠腹侧中脑内的差异表达基因。雄性RKO与WT小鼠的周龄为10-15周，均为C57BL/6J遗传背景。小鼠饲养于温度控制在22-23℃的环境中，采用12小时明暗（LD）光周期（光照于上午8:00开启）。在LD光周期环境中适应超过10天后，于关灯时刻起将小鼠置于持续黑暗（DD）环境中2天。于第3天，在指定时间点通过颈椎脱臼法处死小鼠。