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Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 2, 376-380, Copyright © 1982 by Society for Neuroscience
Dopamine deficiency in the weaver mutant mouse
MJ Schmidt, BD Sawyer, KW Perry, RW Fuller, MM Foreman and B Ghetti
The dopamine system in weaver mutant mice (B6CBA-Aw-J/A background) was
studied. Dopamine was 27% lower in the olfactory tubercle, 77% lower in the
frontal cortex, and 75% lower in the striatum of 6-month-old weaver mice
compared to control mice of the same age. Norepinephrine and serotonin were
not lower in these brain areas. Tyrosine hydroxylase activity in the
striatum was measured with a radiometric assay and was 70% lower in weaver
mice. Examination of mice from 11 to 180 days of age revealed that the
dopamine system failed to develop in weaver mice. Motor activity in
individual animals was assessed using circular photocell activity cages
with minimal illumination. Apomorphine and pergolide, direct dopamine
agonists, increased activity more in weaver mice than in normal
littermates. Amphetamine, which releases endogenous stores of dopamine, was
less active in mutant mice. These findings provide suggestive evidence that
postsynaptic dopamine receptors in weaver mutants might have become
supersensitive as a result of lower levels of dopamine in motor areas of
the brain. Anatomical evidence of dopamine system abnormalities was found
in weaver mice by examination of serial sections cut from the midbrain of
mutant and normal mice. The pars compacta of the substantia nigra in weaver
mice appeared hypocellular when compared with the corresponding sections
from controls. Fewer large neurons were seen in the affected animals. This
study illustrates that weaver mice have specific deficiencies in the
dopamine system. The weaver mouse might provide a way of examining the
biochemical and behavioral effects of long term dopamine deficiency and a
way to examine drugs to treat dopamine-deficient states in vivo.
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