Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

Editor

Personal info

View

About

Terms

Javascript disabled

Please enable Javascript support in your browser to use this application.

Instructions on how to enable JavaScript on different browsers can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852.

[edit this page]

Prado, V.F. et al.

Mice deficient for the vesicular acetylcholine transporter are myasthenic and have deficits in object and social recognition.

An important step for cholinergic transmission involves the vesicular storage of acetylcholine (ACh), a process mediated by the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). In order to understand the physiological roles of the VAChT, we developed a genetically altered strain of mice with reduced expression of this transporter. Heterozygous and homozygous VAChT knockdown mice have a 45% and 65% decrease in VAChT protein expression, respectively. VAChT deficiency alters synaptic vesicle filling and affects ACh release. Whereas VAChT homozygous mutant mice demonstrate major neuromuscular deficits, VAChT heterozygous mice appear normal in that respect and could be used for analysis of central cholinergic function. Behavioral analyses revealed that aversive learning and memory are not altered in mutant mice; however, performance in cognitive tasks involving object and social recognition is severely impaired. These observations suggest a critical role of VAChT in the regulation of ACh release and physiological functions in the peripheral and central nervous system.[1]

References

Mice deficient for the vesicular acetylcholine transporter are myasthenic and have deficits in object and social recognition. Prado, V.F., Martins-Silva, C., de Castro, B.M., Lima, R.F., Barros, D.M., Amaral, E., Ramsey, A.J., Sotnikova, T.D., Ramirez, M.R., Kim, H.G., Rossato, J.I., Koenen, J., Quan, H., Cota, V.R., Moraes, M.F., Gomez, M.V., Guatimosim, C., Wetsel, W.C., Kushmerick, C., Pereira, G.S., Gainetdinov, R.R., Izquierdo, I., Caron, M.G., Prado, M.A. Neuron (2006) [Pubmed]

Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenes Open Access Licence Privacy Policy Terms of Use apsburg

The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.