Developmental Inhibitory Changes in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex of the Stargazer Mouse Model of Absence Epilepsy

1. MARÍA CAMILA ORTIZ CORDERO
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
THIRD SEMESTER – MEDICINA UPB
2023

2. INTRODUCTION
Epilepsy is a disorder of the central nervous system in which normal brain
activity is altered, resulting in seizures or periods of unusual behavior and
sensations, and sometimes loss of consciousness, as a result of a genetic
disorder or acquired brain injury.

3. Reduced expression of the α1 subunit of the synaptic GABAA receptor is
also evident, increased overall tissue-wide GABA neurotransmitter content
but reduced levels of GABA in individual inhibitory synaptic terminals, and
increased tissue-wide GAD65, but not GAD67, in the primary SoCx of adult
stargazers, suggesting impaired inhibition
INTRODUCTION

4. Recognize developmental Inhibitory Changes in the
Primary Somatosensory Cortex of the Stargazer
Mouse Model of Absence Epilepsy
OBJECTIVE

5. Western Blotting of
Subcellular Fractions: is a
technique based on the
identification of the antigen-
antibody reaction, by means of
an electrophoresis where the
proteins are separated and
subsequently identified with a
specific antibody.
Animals: Epileptic (E) male
stargazers and their non-
epileptic (NE) and wild-type
(WT) male littermates
obtained from breeding
populations of stargazers with
3 stages of neural
development according to
their postnatal days were used
to obtain their genotype.
METHODS

6. Biochemical Fractionation: Is used
to separate different organelles
and cellular components for
study. Tissues are crushed in a
homogenizer so that the cells are
compressed and release their
contents. Subcellular fractions
derived from the primary
somatosensory cortex (SoCx)
were obtained.
PCR: is a chemical reaction
used to amplify (create copies)
of DNA fragments. In this case
it was used to amplify mouse
DNA.
METHODS

7. RESULTS
FIGURE 2:

8. RESULTS
FIGURE 3:
FIGURE 5:

9. DISCUSSION
AUTHOR AUTHOR´S STATEMENT AGREE/
DESAGREE
Kiser, P.J.; Cooper,
N.G.; Mower, G.D.
In the current study, GAD65 also showed a
marked developmental increase from PN 7–9,
but the increase became comparatively slower
from PN 13–18, which was likely due to reaching
adult levels at around the 3 weeks mark, as
previously reported in
AGREE
Tien, N.-W.;
Kerschensteiner,
Dp.
Ramocki, M.B.;
Zoghbi, H.Y.
Lignani, G.;
Baldelli, P.; Marra,
V.
Structural and functional plasticity in neural
circuits regulates and maintains the
homeostatic E/I balance, failure of which
results in neurological disorders including
epilepsy.
AGREE
Crunelli, V.;
Leresche, N.;
Cope, D.W.
Gardiner, M.
It is possible that the dysfunctional engagement
of fast-spiking PV+ feed-forward inhibitory
interneurons in stargazer primary SoCx results in
a transient reduction in GAD65.
Multiple studies implicate impaired GABAergic
neurotransmission in the CTC network
pathognomonic of absence seizures
AGREE

10. CONCLUSIONS
- Through this study we were able to demonstrate the
importance of molecular biology, since it allows us to know and
create copies of the genome of organisms, isolate proteins to
know their expression in certain tissues and organisms, among
other uses which are applicable to the entire field of medicine.
- From the study of cells and all their components, such as DNA,
molecular biology also allows us to identify pathologies from
specific studies, allowing us to give a diagnosis and treatment
based on it.