Neurobiology of Disease (Oct 2001)

A Murine Dopamine Neuron-Specific cDNA Library and Microarray: Increased COXI Expression during Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity

  • Tanya Barrett,
  • Tao Xie,
  • Yulan Piao,
  • Ora Dillon-Carter,
  • George J. Kargul,
  • Meng K. Lim,
  • Francis J. Chrest,
  • Robert Wersto,
  • Daniel L. Rowley,
  • Magdalena Juhaszova,
  • Li Zhou,
  • Marquis P. Vawter,
  • Kevin G. Becker,
  • Christopher Cheadle,
  • William H. Wood, III,
  • Una D. McCann,
  • William J. Freed,
  • Minoru S. Ko,
  • George A. Ricaurte,
  • David M. Donovan

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 5
pp. 822 – 833

Abstract

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Due to brain tissue heterogeneity, the molecular genetic profile of any neurotransmitter-specific neuronal subtype is unknown. The purpose of this study was to purify a population of dopamine neurons, construct a cDNA library, and generate an initial gene expression profile and a microarray representative of dopamine neuron transcripts. Ventral mesencephalic dopamine neurons were purified by fluorescent-activated cell sorting from embryonic day 13.5 transgenic mice harboring a 4.5-kb rat tyrosine hydroxylase promoter–lacZ fusion. Nine-hundred sixty dopamine neuron cDNA clones were sequenced and arrayed for use in studies of gene expression changes during methamphetamine neurotoxicity. A neurotoxic dose of methamphetamine produced a greater than twofold up-regulation of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase polypeptide I transcript from adult mouse substantia nigra at 12 h posttreatment. This is the first work to describe a gene expression profile for a neuronal subtype and to identify gene expression changes during methamphetamine neurotoxicity.

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