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Journal of Pharmacology And Experimental Therapeutics Fast Forward
First published on May 1, 2006; DOI: 10.1124/jpet.105.100552

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Received for publication December 23, 2005.
Revised April 27, 2006.
Accepted for publication April 27, 2006.

Distinct Functional Characteristics of the Lateral/Basolateral Amygdala GABAergic System in C57BL/6J and DBA/2J Mice

Dustin DuBois 1, Andreas Perlegas 1, Donald Floyd 1, Jeff Weiner 1, Brian McCool 1*

1 Wake Forest Univ. Sch. Med.

* Address correspondence to: E-mail: bmccool{at}wfubmc.edu

Abstract

It is generally understood that genetic mechanisms contribute to pathological anxiety and that C57BL/6 (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) mice, inbred strains differing markedly in their anxiety-like behaviors, may represent a model system to study these contributions. Because lateral/basolateral amygdala (BLA) GABAA receptors help regulate anxiety-like behaviors, we have tested the hypothesis that differences in receptor function/expression may be related to strain-specific differences in experimentally measured anxiety. First, we demonstrated that anxiety-like behaviors in two separate assays were more substantial in D2 mice. Then, using whole-cell electrophysiology of isolated neurons, we found that D2 BLA neurons expressed significantly greater GABA-gated responses than B6 BLA neurons. This was specific for GABAA receptors since NMDA-gated responses were similar between strains. At the molecular level, this increased GABAA function was associated with higher levels of {alpha}2 subunit mRNA expression in D2 BLA. Finally, to understand the ramifications of these functional and molecular biological differences, we examined both electrically-evoked GABAergic responses and spontaneous synaptic currents using whole-cell recordings with in vitro slice preparations. Presynaptic GABAergic function was more robust in D2 compared to B6 slices. Together, our findings suggest that genetic mechanisms differentially represented in these two inbred mouse lines lead to robust differences in pre- and post-synaptic aspects of amygdala GABAergic function.


Key words: anxiety, concentration-response, diazepam, electrophysiology, ethanol, real-time RT-PCR


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