[Microinfusion experiment for mice and its application to pharmacological studies]

It is urgently necessary to clarify functions of uncharacterized proteins. To understand life processes, we must investigate the functions and networks of proteins expressed from genomic DNA. In the near future, microinfusion experiments will become a more important method for analyzing uncharacterized function of proteins in vivo. Here we provide a practical manual for performing microinfusion experiments in mice. We also describe our experiment in which we performed a single injection of morphine following Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteine (SPARC) infusion into the basolateral amygdala of previously uninjected mice and found markedly enhanced locomotor activity. We discuss the utility of microinfusion experiments in mice.