Phenotype comparison of three acetylcholinesterase knockout strains

The phenotypes of three mouse strains that carry the acetylcholinesterase knockout (AChE KO) mutation have been compared. The AChE KO mouse was developed from embryonic stem (ES) cells, originating from a 129/Sv blastocyst. Animals generated from strain 129/Sv suffer from dysgenesis of the corpus callosum and possibly a number of other neuroanatomical deficiencies. To determine the contribution of background genes to phenotype, 129/Sv AChE heterozygote (AChE+/-) mice were backcrossed 10 generations with wild-type inbred C57/BL6 (C57) mice and with wild-type outbred CD1(R) mice. AChE-/- mice in strains C57 and CD1died during seizures before postnatal day (P) 21, whereas mice in strain 129/Sv lived to adulthood.