Rats with congenital tremor and curled whiskers and hair.

Abstract

In a colony of Kyo: Wistar strain of rats, we found animals with curled whiskers and hair. These rats exhibited tremor when they moved. There were no sex differences in phenotype and behavior, and the affected animals of both sexes were sterile. Among pairs that produced at least one tremulous offspring, 21.8% of the females and 21.7% of the males were affected; these proportions suggest that the anomaly is caused by an autosomal recessive gene. When the presumed heterozygous males were crossed with WAG/Rij females, about half of their female F1 hybrids were heterozygous, and they produced 26.1% (43/165) of the affected offspring when backcrossed to the sires. Again these results suggested that the disorder is caused by an autosomal recessive gene. We tentatively designated the gene as tremor (tm). The main pathological changes were seen in the gonad and central nervous system. The gonads of both sexes were aplastic even in adult animals. Vacuole formation was seen widely in the central nervous system and sometimes exhibited a spongy appearance. After administration of alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine, the norepinephrine content of the cerebellum was high, indicating that some anomalies of catecholamine release were present. The mutation is being maintained by random mating of the littermates of affected animals. Detailed pathological, endocrinological, neuropharmacological, and genetical studies are proceeding.