Transcription profiling of mouse with abalated dopaminoceptive neurons to examine the effects of CaMKIV loss on cocaine-induced gene expression in the striatum

Ablation of the Camk4 gene in dopaminoceptive neurons of the brain was performed using the Cre/loxP system, with the recombinase expressed from a BAC-derived Drd1a promoter. Our goal was to analyze how loss of CaMKIV will affect acitivity-regulated transcription induced by strong stimulation, i.e. cocaine. Experiment Overall Design: Animals were injected i.p. with either 25 mg/kg cocaine or saline and sacrificed after one hour by cervical dislocation. Expression profiling was performed using total RNA isolated from the striatum.