期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：1981
卷号：78
期号：7
页码：4630-4634
DOI：10.1073/pnas.78.7.4630
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：The central catecholamine neuron system in the mutant mouse tottering was examined by fluorescence histochemistry and biochemical analysis of catecholamine content. This single-locus neurological mutation expresses a reproducible alteration in central nervous system physiology characterized by spontaneous spike-wave and focal motor seizures in the absence of any previously recognized disturbance of cellular organization or brain size. Histochemical analysis showed a significant increase in the number of noradrenergic axons in terminal fields innervated by the nucleus locus ceruleus when compared with the wild type. A concomitant 100-200% rise in norepinephrine levels is found in the same areas, including hippocampus, cerebellum, and dorsal lateral geniculate. Catecholamine fibers and transmitter content in areas innervated by a second major noradrenergic system arising from the brainstem lateral tegmental neurons are unaltered. The terminal axons and transmitter content were both unchanged in nuclei receiving a dense dopaminergic innervation. Despite the hypertrophy of the locus ceruleus axonal plexus, the number and size of locus ceruleus cell somata were identical in both wild-type and tottering mice. These findings are consistent with a specific gene-linked alteration of developmental events controlling the number of axons produced by a single neuronal population in the mammalian brain.
