Cerebral cortical hypoplasia with abnormal morphology of pyramidal neuron in growth-retarded mouse (grt/grt)

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively characterize structural abnormalities of the cerebrum in a growth-retarded mouse (grt/grt) with a tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase 2 gene defect. Three-dimensional computed tomography (CT) images were obtained from fixed brains of male homogenous grt/grt (n=5) and heterozygous grt/+ (n=5) mice at 15 weeks of age, and volumes of representative cerebral regions were calculated on the basis of those images. Following CT measurements, cryosections of the brain were made, and immunohistochemistry for NeuN and SMI-32 was carried out. By CT-based volumetry, region-specific reductions in volumes were marked in the cerebral cortex and white matter, but not in other cerebral regions of grt/grt. When quantitatively evaluating the shape of the cerebral cortex, the frontooccipital length of the cortex was significantly smaller in grt/grt than in grt/+, whereas the cortical width was not altered in grt/grt. On the other hand, both cortical thickness and density of NeuN-immunopositive neurons in three distinctive cortical regions, i.e., the primary motor cortex, barrel field of primary somatosensory cortex and primary visual cortex, were not different between grt/grt and grt/+. By semi-quantitative immunohistochemical analysis, the intensity of SMI-32 immunostaining was significantly weaker in grt/grt than in grt/+ in the three cortical areas examined. SMI-32 staining was reduced, particularly in layer III pyramidal neurons in grt/grt, while it was sustained in multipolar neurons. The present results suggest that cerebral abnormalities in grt/grt mice are characterized by cortical hypoplasia at the frontooccipital axis with immature pyramidal neurons and insufficient development of callosal fibers.