A spontaneous point mutation produces monoamine oxidase A/B knock-out mice with greatly elevated monoamines and anxiety-like behavior

J Biol Chem. 2004 Sep 17;279(38):39645-52. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M405550200. Epub 2004 Jul 22.

Abstract

A spontaneous monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) mutation (A863T) in exon 8 introduced a premature stop codon, which produced MAO A/B double knock-out (KO) mice in a MAO B KO mouse colony. This mutation caused a nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and resulted in the absence of MAO A transcript, protein, and catalytic activity and abrogates a DraI restriction site. The MAO A/B KO mice showed reduced body weight compared with wild type mice. Brain levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and phenylethylamine increased, and serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid levels decreased, to a much greater degree than in either MAO A or B single KO mice. Observed chase/escape and anxiety-like behavior in the MAO A/B KO mice, different from MAO A or B single KO mice, suggest that varying monoamine levels result in both a unique biochemical and behavioral phenotype. These mice will be useful models for studying the molecular basis of disorders associated with abnormal monoamine neurotransmitters.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Anxiety / genetics*
  • Anxiety / metabolism
  • Anxiety / physiopathology*
  • Base Sequence
  • Behavior, Animal / physiology
  • Biogenic Monoamines / metabolism*
  • Codon, Nonsense
  • Exons
  • Female
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Monoamine Oxidase / genetics*
  • Monoamine Oxidase / metabolism
  • Phenotype
  • Point Mutation*
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism

Substances

  • Biogenic Monoamines
  • Codon, Nonsense
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Monoamine Oxidase