From spontaneous to induced neurological mutations: a personal witness of the ascent of the mouse model.

Abstract

The mouse is arguably the most versatile animal model for studying the mechanisms of normal development and the pathogenesis of congenital malformations of the human nervous system. It does not offer the enormous potentials for manipulation by molecular genetics of small invertebrates, nor does it have the advantage of a large brain size and the similarity to the human that has been exploited by neuroanatomists and neurophysiologists in the nonhuman primates. However, as a small, relatively fast-reproducing mammal, with several well-defined inbred strains, it has became an unexcelled tool in modern developmental neurobiology. In addition, with the impeding completion of its genome sequence, the enlargement of the repertoire of spontaneous and induced mutations, combined with the creation of mosaic animals, the mouse has become an essential model system in almost every area of neurobiology and experimental neuropathology.KeywordsPurkinje CellGranule CellDendritic SpineCerebellar CortexBinocular CompetitionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.