Description
Our laboratory has developed the first mouse model overexpressing a RNA-binding protein, the ELAV-like protein HuD, in the CNS under the control of the CaMKinII alpha promoter. Initial behavioral characterization of the mice revealed that they had significant learning deficits together with abnormalities in prepulse inhibition (PPI). At the molecular level, we found that the expression of the growth-associated protein GAP-43, one of the targets of HuD, was increased in the hippocampus of HuD transgenic mice. To characterize these mice further and to evaluate the utility of these animals in understanding human diseases, we propose to use DNA microarray methods.