Vet Pathol Email Content Delivery
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (2)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Zeiss, C. J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Zeiss, C. J.
Vet Pathol 42:753-773 (2005)
© 2005 American College of Veterinary Pathologists
ANIMAL MODELS

Neuroanatomical Phenotyping in the Mouse: The Dopaminergic System

C. J. Zeiss

Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

Voluntary movement in animals is modulated by a number of subcortical systems. One of these resides in the basal nuclei and their associated projections and utilizes dopamine as a neurotransmitter. Apart from regulating movement, the dopaminergic axis is also involved in the control of goal-oriented behavior, cognition, and mood. Disorders of this system result in common human neurologic disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, as well contributing to a host of behavioral conditions, such as schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and addiction. Many individual mouse models of human dopaminergic dysfunction have been described in varying degrees of detail. However, when evaluating this region of the brain, the veterinary pathologist is confronted by a paucity of information summarizing the comparative aspects of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the central dopaminergic system. In this review, a systematic approach to anatomic phenotyping of the central dopaminergic system in the mouse is described and illustrated using tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. Differences between murine neuroanatomy and comparable regions of the nonhuman primate brain are highlighted. Although the mouse is the focus of this review, conditions in domestic animals characterized by lesions within the basal nuclei and its projections are also briefly described. Murine behavioral and motor tests that accompany abnormalities of specific anatomic regions of the dopaminergic axis are summarized. Finally, we review mouse models of Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases, as well as those genetically altered mice that elucidate aspects of dopamine metabolism and receptor function.

Key words: Basal nuclei; brain; dopamine; immunohistochemistry; mice; phenotyping; substantia nigra; tyrosine hydroxylase.

Request reprints from Caroline J. Zeiss, Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 375 Congress Avenue, New Haven, CT 06437 (USA). E-mail: caroline.zeiss{at}yale.edu






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2005 by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.