These mice possess loxP sites flanking the second transmembrane domain of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) A receptor, subunit alpha 1 (Gabra1) gene. GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the nervous system which helps regulate neuronal excitability. Mice that are homozygous for this floxed Gabra1 allele are viable, fertile, normal in size and do not display any gross physical or behavioral abnormalities. When used in conjunction with a Cre recombinase-expressing strain, this strain is useful in generating tissue-specific mutants of Gabra1.
For example, when these mice are bred to B6.C-Tg(CMV-cre)1Cgn/J mice (Stock No. 006054) expressing cre in all tissues, the resulting double mutant mice exhibit sex-dependent decreased survival after P19, decreased body mass, EEG spike-wave discharges, and seizures. Heterozygotes display an intermediate decrease in body mass and survival.
In an attempt to offer alleles on well-characterized or multiple genetic backgrounds, alleles are frequently moved to a genetic background different from that on which an allele was first characterized. This is the case for the strain above. It should be noted that the phenotype could vary from that originally described. We will modify the strain description if necessary as published results become available.
Of note, several strains bearing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA-A) receptor mutations are available from this donating investigator (Dr. Gregg Homanics, University of Pittsburgh), including Gabra1 (Stock No. 004318), Gabra4 (Stock No. 006874), Gabra6 (Stock No. 002710), Gabrb3 (Stock No. 002711), Gabrd (Stock No. 003725), and Gabrg2 (Stock No. 003137).
