Maltese dilution, chromosome 9, and audiogenic seizures in DBA-2 mice: experimental evaluation

Mapping of two genes that influence susceptibility to audiogenic seizures in crosses of C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice

The difference in susceptibility to audiogenic seizures (AGS) between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J inbred strains of mice is due to multiple genetic factors. AGS susceptibility was tested in 21-day-old mice from classical crosses, BXD recombinant inbred (RI) strains, a congenic DBA/2N.B6N-Ahb inbred strain and crosses between the BXD RI strains and DBA/2J. Analysis of these data reveals that the variation in AGS susceptibility between these two strains results from allelic differences at three or more loci. Most of the variation is due to allelic differences at two loci. The first, Asp-1 (formerly Ias), is a major gene located on chromosome 12, between Ah and D12 Nyul. The second, Asp-2 (formerly asp), is a minor gene located on chromosome 4, tightly linked to b. The negative correlation of brain stem Ca2(+)-ATPase activity and AGS susceptibility in the BXD RI strains suggests that the strain difference in Ca2(+)-ATPase activity is inherited as a polygenic trait and that Asp-1 and Asp-2 are linked to, or identical to, factors that influence Ca2(+)-ATPase activity.

Anatomical and behavioral analyses of the inheritance of audiogenic seizures in the progeny of genetically epilepsy-prone and Sprague-Dawley rats

Our previous studies have shown an increase in the number of GABAergic and total neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) of the genetically epilepsy-prone rat (GEPR-9) as compared to the non-seizing Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat. To determine whether an increase in neuron number in the IC is genetically associated with seizure behavior, seizing and non-seizing offspring of GEPR-9 and SD progenitor strains were studied as well as offspring from backcrosses made with F1 and either GEPR-9 or SD rats. In addition, the ontogeny of seizure behavior was studied in seizing rats from these same backgrounds. The development of seizure behavior in GEPR-9s was shown to be dependent on age and the number of exposures to sound stimulus up until the age of 9 weeks. The F1 and F2 generations displayed different audiogenic seizure profiles than those of the two progenitor strains. In the F1 generation, the ratio of seizing to non-seizing rats was always greater than 3:1, and the distribution of seizure scores was similar for males and females. In addition, the off-spring from backcrosses made with F1 rats (high or low seizing) and GEPR-9s displayed maximal audiogenic response scores (ARS) of 9, a characteristic of the GEPR-9s used in this study. The results of these genetic studies indicate a polygenetic inheritance of this autosomal dominant trait of audiogenic seizure susceptibility. For the quantitative study of neuronal density in the IC, neurons were counted from cresyl violet-stained preparations from seizing and non-seizing F1 and F2 rats, backcrosses from different categories and age-matched SD rats. Statistically significant increases in the number of both small (70% increase) and medium-sized (14% increase) neurons occurred in the high seizing animals (ARS = 7-9) as compared to either the non-seizing F2 or SD rats. In addition, a significant increase in the number of small neurons (77% increase) occurred in the high seizing offspring of the F1 X GEPR-9 backcross as compared to that of the non-seizing offspring of the F1 X SD backcross. The data from 25 rats generated a 0.9 coefficient of linear correlation between ARS and the number of small neurons. The results from the anatomical studies suggest that the inheritance of audiogenic seizures appears to be closely linked to the increase in cell number. Therefore, the increase in cell number in the IC may be an important determinant of seizure behavior for GEPR-9s.

Experimentally induced susceptibility to audiogenic seizure

By injecting metal ions and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate, we made the normal mouse prone to sound-induced epilepsy. We showed that the levels of glutamate and aspartate in its inferior colliculus were elevated and the concentration of gamma-aminobutyrate was lowered. The time course of audiogenic susceptibility after the treatment was closely mirrored by changes in the concentrations of glutamate, aspartate, and gamma-aminobutyrate in the inferior colliculus.

Audiogenic seizure susceptibility of C57BL/6 in equilibrium DBA/2 allophenic mice

Allophenic mice composed of cells from a strain (DBA/2) susceptible to sound-induced seizures and cells from a strain (C57BL/6) resistant to them were produced by embryo aggregation techniques. Twenty-eight allophenic mice were tested for audiogenic seizure susceptibility. The results were compared with the genotypic composition of the coat melanocytes. For those animals with a predominance of one genotype or the other in the coat, their seizure phenotype was the same as that of the strain most represented in the coat. In contrast, those animals with major contributions of both genotypes in the coat demonstrated the entire spectrum of susceptibility phenotypes. Such results are likely to be a manifestation of a relatively small target tissue for the genes influencing the development of audiogenic seizure susceptibility.