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Cell-specific expression of the rat oxytocin gene in transgenic mice

W. Scott Young, III, Kay Reynolds, Emily Shepard, Harold Gainer, and Mona Castel

Laboratory of Cell Biology1, National Institute of Mental Health and Laboratory of Neurochemistry, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health; and Department of Experimental Zoology, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

J. Neuroendocrinol. 6: 917-925 1990 

Expression of the rat OT gene in transgenic mice

Expression of the rat OT gene in transgenic mice.

A. Immunocytochemical staining of hypothalamic sections through the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of transgenic (upper pair) and wildtype control (lower pair) mice. The rat transgene construct shown in B was used to generate this transgenic mouse. Only cells in the transgenic mouse PVN could be stained by the rat-specific oxytocin-associated neurophysin antibody (PS 67). The other oxytocin-associated neurophysin antibody (PS 38) which reacted with both rat and mouse neurophysins, stained both PVN sections.

B. Rat transgene construct. This construct contained both the intact VP and intact rat OT genes fused in tandem in the same transcriptional orientation and contained 1.4 kb and 0.36kb of the 5'-upstream flanking region of the rat VP and OT genes, respectively.

1Now the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation