Developmental expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein and actin-encoding messages in quaking and control mice

Quaking is a neurological mutation leading to pleiotropic phenotypic expression, the most prominent being disturbed myelin formation in the central nervous system (CNS) with minor abnormalities in the peripheral nervous system. Previous immunochemical measurements of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) revealed a marked increase in the protein in several areas of the CNS. To further characterize the regulation parameters of GFAP synthesis, we analyzed the levels of GFAP mRNA in 5 regions of the CNS, some with elevated levels of GFAP and some without. This was compared to the developmental expression of GFAP transcripts in the same regions in normal mice. To establish the specificity of the variations observed with this astroglial specific message, we conducted a similar investigation with actin RNA which is expressed by several cell types in the CNS. Both the actin and the GFAP message were found to be increased in the adult mutant throughout the CNS. In 2-year-old normal mice the messengers for both cytoskeleton proteins were expressed in a higher amount than in young adults.