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- Birgner, Carolina, et al.
(författare)
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VGLUT2 in dopamine neurons is required for psychostimulant-induced behavioural activation
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 107:1, s. 389-394
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The “One neuron-one neurotransmitter” concept has been challenged frequently during the last three decades, and the coexistence of neurotransmitters in individual neurons is now regarded as a common phenomenon. The functional significance of neurotransmitter coexistence is, however, less well understood. Several studies have shown that a subpopulation of dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) expresses the vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2) and has been suggested to use glutamate as a cotransmitter. The VTA dopamine neurons project to limbic structures including the nucleus accumbens, and are involved in mediating the motivational and locomotor activating effects of psychostimulants. To determine the functional role of glutamate cotransmission by these neurons, we deleted VGLUT2 in DA neurons by using a conditional gene-targeting approach in mice. A DAT-Cre/Vglut2Lox mouse line (Vglut2f/f;DAT-Cre mice) was produced and analyzed by in vivo amperometry as well as by several behavioral paradigms. Although basal motor function was normal in the Vglut2f/f;DAT-Cre mice, their risk-taking behavior was altered. Interestingly, in both home-cage and novel environments, the gene targeted mice showed a greatly blunted locomotor response to the psychostimulant amphetamine, which acts via the midbrain DA system. Our results show that VGLUT2 expression in DA neurons is required for normal emotional reactivity as well as for psychostimulant-mediated behavioral activation.
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| 2. |
- Karlsson, Robert, et al.
(författare)
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MAGI1 Copy Number Variation in Bipolar Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia
- 2012
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Ingår i: Biological Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 71:10, s. 922-930
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) and schizophrenia (SZ) are devastating psychiatric disorders that each affect about 1% of the population worldwide. Identification of new drug targets is an important step toward better treatment of these poorly understood diseases. Methods: Genome-wide copy number variation (CNV) was assessed and variants were ranked by co-occurrence with disease in 48 BPAD families. Additional support for involvement of the highest-ranking CNV from the family-based analysis in psychiatric disease was obtained through analysis of 4084 samples with BPAD, SZ, or schizoaffective disorder. Finally, a pooled analysis of in-house and published datasets was carried out including 10,925 cases with BPAD, SZ, or schizoaffective disorder and 16,747 controls. Results: In the family-based analysis, an approximately 200 kilobase (kb) deletion in the first intron of the MAGI1 gene was identified that segregated with BPAD in a pedigree (six out of six affected individuals; parametric logarithm of the odds score = 1.14). In the pooled analysis, seven additional insertions or deletions over 100 kb were identified in MAGI1 in cases, while only two such CNV events were identified in the same gene in controls (p = .023; Fisher's exact test). Because earlier work had identified a CNV in the close relative MAGI2 in SZ, the study was extended to include MAGI2. In the pooled analysis of MAGI2, two large deletions were found in cases, and two duplications were detected in controls. Conclusions: Results presented herein provide further evidence for a role of MAGI1 and MAGI2 in BPAD and SZ etiology.
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