Expression of myoglobin in the transgenic mouse brain

The main purpose of this study was to express human myoglobin in mouse brain neurons and investigate the effects of this expression on metabolism and blood flow using phosphorous (31P) NMR spectroscopy and NMR perfusion imaging. Transgenic mice expressing brain myoglobin were created using a cDNA sequence for human myoglobin placed under the transcriptional control of either a human platelet-drived grown factor polypeptide B (PDGF-B) promoter sequence or a rat neuron-specific enolase (NSE) promoter sequence. The presence of myoglobin having a functional, reduced-state, heme group was demonstrated by protein analysis and immunocytochemistry. Expression levels were highest in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and cerebral cortex. No gross morphological adaptations of neural tissue resulting from the expression were observed and no statistically significant differences in the energetic state, as measured by 31P NMR, or baseline cortical perfusion, as measured by an NMR perfusion imaging technique, were found.