Szumlinski KK, Lominac KD, Kleschen MJ, Oleson EB, Dehoff MH, Schwarz MK, Schwartz MK, Seeburg PH, Seeberg PH, Worley PF, Kalivas PW. Behavioral and neurochemical phenotyping of Homer1 mutant mice: possible relevance to schizophrenia.
Genes Brain Behav 2005;
4:273-88. [PMID:
16011574 DOI:
10.1111/j.1601-183x.2005.00120.x]
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Abstract
Homer proteins are involved in the functional assembly of postsynaptic density proteins at glutamatergic synapses and are implicated in learning, memory and drug addiction. Here, we report that Homer1-knockout (Homer1-KO) mice exhibit behavioral and neurochemical abnormalities that are consistent with the animal models of schizophrenia. Relative to wild-type mice, Homer1-KO mice exhibited deficits in radial arm maze performance, impaired prepulse inhibition, enhanced 'behavioral despair', increased anxiety in a novel objects test, enhanced reactivity to novel environments, decreased instrumental responding for sucrose and enhanced MK-801- and methamphetamine-stimulated motor behavior. No-net-flux in vivo microdialysis revealed a decrease in extracellular glutamate content in the nucleus accumbens and an increase in the prefrontal cortex. Moreover, in Homer1-KO mice, cocaine did not stimulate a rise in frontal cortex extracellular glutamate levels, suggesting hypofrontality. These behavioral and neurochemical data derived from Homer1 mutant mice are consistent with the recent association of schizophrenia with a single-nucleotide polymorphism in the Homer1 gene and suggest that the regulation of extracellular levels of glutamate within limbo-corticostriatal structures by Homer1 gene products may be involved in the pathogenesis of this neuropsychiatric disorder.
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