Maternal genotype can influence the outcome of a study on mutant animals

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
Dóra ZelenaGábor B Makara

Abstract

The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a crucial role in stress. One of its central regulatory components is arginine-vasopressin (AVP). We studied the role of AVP in acute restraint in AVP-deficient mutant Brattleboro rats (AVP-), but our results were variable. The early life period is important in the later stress reactivity of the animals. We realized that our AVP- pups could be born from AVP+ (heterozygous) or from AVP- mothers. Therefore, we asked whether the genotype of the mother could explain the variability. Adult rats from AVP+ and AVP- mothers were stressed with 60 min of restraint. Trunk blood was collected for measuring hormone content by radioimmunoassay. All offspring of AVP+ mothers had similar adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) responses to restraint, whereas the AVP- rats born to AVP- mothers showed reduced ACTH reactivity. Our results show that the AVP- genotype of the mother can decrease the stress reactivity of AVP- Brattleboro rats. In mutant/knockout animals, family background should be taken into account as well as the genotype of the studied animals.

Citations

Oct 6, 2007·Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical Engineering·Sascha Seifert, Rüdiger Dillmann

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