2.1 kb 5′-flanking region of the brain type dystrophin gene directs the expression of lacZ in the cerebral cortex, but not in the hippocampus

• Published in: Journal of the neurological sciences 1997-03, Vol.147 (1), p.13-20
• Main Authors: Kimura, Shigemi, Abe, Kuniya, Suzuki, Misao, Ogawa, Masakatsu, Yoshioka, Kowashi, Yamamura, Kenichi, Miike, Teruhisa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Brain type dystrophin; Cerebral cortex; Cerebral Cortex - chemistry; Cloning, Molecular; Diseases of striated muscles. Neuromuscular diseases; DNA Fragmentation; Dystrophin - genetics; Escherichia coli - genetics; Gene Expression; Genetic Code; Genome; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - chemistry; Lac Operon; lacZ; Medical sciences; Mental retardation; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred DBA; Mice, Transgenic; Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics; Neurology; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Transgenic mouse
• ISSN: 0022-510X; 1878-5883
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-510X(96)05317-8

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a muscle-wasting disease accompanied by a variable, but often significant degree of mental retardation, possibly due to the absence of dystrophin. However, the function of brain type dystrophin remains insufficiently clear. With this background, in order to study the cell-specific regulation of brain type dystrophin expression in mice, we generated transgenic mice carrying the 2.1 kb 5′-fragment of the mouse brain type dystrophin gene, fused to the coding region of the bacterial lacZ gene. Three transgenic mice lines showed lacZ expression in the cerebral cortex. However, lacZ expression was not detected in the CA region of the hippocampus. These results suggest that the 2.1 kb 5′-fragment of the mouse brain type dystrophin gene contains the regulatory element required for its expression in the cerebral cortex, but not in the hippocampus.