Gene expression in retina and LGN of wild type and Chrnb2-/- mice

Mice lacking the beta 2 subunit (Chrnb2) of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor display altered retinal waves and disorganized projections of the retinal ganglion cells to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). mRNA populations from retinas and LGN from Chrnb2-/-and wild type (C57BL/6J) mice were compared at 4 days postnatal, when RGC segregation to the LGN begins in WT mice. Retinal mRNAs were also compared at adulthood. Using microarray hybridization, we identified transcripts which are differentially expressed between Chrnb2-/- and wild type animals in these two tissues at these two ages. mRNA was isolated from retina and LGN of three male littermates each of WT and Chrnb2-/- mice at P4. mRNA from retinas of two adult male littermates of each type was also examined.

缺乏神经元烟碱型乙酰胆碱受体(neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor)β2亚基（编码基因Chrnb2）的小鼠，表现出视网膜波异常，且视网膜神经节细胞(retinal ganglion cells, RGC)向外侧膝状体核(lateral geniculate nucleus, LGN)的投射分布紊乱。在野生型(wild type, WT)C57BL/6J小鼠视网膜神经节细胞向外侧膝状体核投射分离的起始时点——出生后第4天（P4），本研究对Chrnb2基因敲除(Chrnb2-/-)与野生型小鼠的视网膜及外侧膝状体核的mRNA表达谱进行了比较。此外，本研究还在成年阶段比较了两组小鼠的视网膜mRNA表达水平。通过微阵列杂交(microarray hybridization)技术，我们鉴定出了在上述两个年龄阶段、两种组织中，Chrnb2基因敲除与野生型个体之间存在差异表达的转录本。研究人员从出生后第4天的野生型与Chrnb2基因敲除小鼠各3只同窝雄性仔鼠的视网膜及外侧膝状体核中分离得到mRNA；同时还对两类小鼠各2只同窝成年雄性仔鼠的视网膜mRNA进行了检测分析。