TH-GFP (Tyrsosine hydroxylase GFP) is commonly used for identification of dopaminergic neurons in culture. I also came to know about PITX3-GFP mouse that is also gaining popularity for the purpose. PITX3 is a homeoboxdomain transcription factor that is only or dominantly expressed in midbrain dopaminergic neurons in the CNS. I prefer this model more than the TH-GFP model because I harvest midbrain cells from embryonic mouse and during development tyrosine hydroxylase is expressed in many brain cells, like the cortex, noradrenergic, cholinergic cells etc and it becomes really hard to determine if I am patching on a dopaminergic cell. If anyone has any experience with these two models and if they have used other models for the purpose please let me know.
Thanks
- Badges
- Science topic