In zQ175 mice, exon 1 of the Htt gene has been replaced by the human Htt exon 1 sequence with ~180-220 CAG repeats.
Mutant animals present the following phenotype:
- Reduced body weight gain over age (Menalled et al., 2012; Heikkinen et al., 2012)
- Mean survival of 90 weeks (Menalled et al., 2012)
- Disturbed motor performance in the Rota Rod at 30 weeks (Menalled et al., 2012)
- Reduced climbing behavior at 26 weeks (Menalled et al., 2012)
- Disturbed procedural learning behavior at ~40 weeks (Menalled et al., 2012; Heikkinen et al., 2012)
- Reduced striatal DARPP32, Drd2, PDE10a, GLT1 and Cnr1 mRNA levels at 12 weeks (Menalled et al., 2012)
- Reduced striatal, cortical and total brain volume at 12 weeks (Heikkinen et al., 2012)
The phenotype described above reflects a late-onset HD pathology and makes the zQ175 mouse a perfect model for your drug testing.
QPS Neuropharmacology offers the zQ175 mouse with a deleted neo cassette (zQ175DN KI).
