Anne Luebke - Current Research
Transgenic mice generation
Construction and characterization of transgenic mice overexpressing a 9 nAChR. a : Schematic illustrates the site-directed mutagenesis of a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) containing the mouse a 9 nACh R gene. E, Exon. b : Fluorescence microscopy shows that expression of GFP reporter in transgenic animals is restricted to cochlear outer hair cells, with a stronger signal in homozygotes (Tg +/+) than in hemizygotes (Tg +/-). Images represent identical exposures of surface preparations of the organ of Corti from the apical half of cochlea in adult mice from each of three genotypes. OHCs, outer hair cells; IHCs, inner hair cells c , d : Western blots show a9 nAChR protein expression in transgenic mice restricted to pituitary and cochlea; in cochlea, expression is stronger in transgenic animals than in littermate wildtypes. e : Quantitative analysis of Western blots. Expression levels were quantified by measuring band density (60 kDa band) and normalizing to myosin VI (148 kDa band). Each bar represents mean ± s.e.m., n's indicate number of animals in each sample, and asterisks indicate statistical significance (p<0.001, Student t-test).