The spontaneous mutant circling mouse (cir/cir) shows a circling behavior and hearing loss. We produced transgenic mice overexpressing transmembrane inner ear (tmie) gene, the causative gene, for the phenotypic rescue of the circling mouse. Through the continuous breeding with circling mice, the cir/cir homozygous mice carrying the transgene (cir/cir‐gtg) were produced. The rescued cir/cir‐gtg mice were able to swim in the water with proper orientation and did not show any circling behavior like wild type mice. Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis exhibited that the transgenic tmie was expressed in the inner ear. Inner and outer hair cells were recovered in the cochlea and spiral ganglion neurons were also recovered in the rescued mice. Auditory brainstem response (ABR) test demonstrated that the cir/cir‐gtg mice are able to respond to sound. This study demonstrates that tmie transgene can recover the hearing impairment and abnormal behavior in the circling mouse.

ABSTRACT   INTRODUCTION   MATERIALS AND METHODS   RESULTS   DISCUSSION   REFERENCES

• Mi Jung Shin(School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, College of Natural Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea) | 신미정
• Seo Jin Park(School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, College of Natural Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea) | 박서진
• Zae Young Ryoo(Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering, Daegu University, Gyeongsan 712-714, Korea) | 류재영