Genetic effects on susceptibility to histidine induced teratogenesis in the mouse

Abstract

In the mouse histidinaemia has a teratogenic effect. Animals subjected to high levels of histidine in utero may develop inner ear and behavioural abnormalities typical of the ‘shaker–waltzer’ syndrome. Selection procedures for abnormalities and relaxation of selection have resulted in two histidinaemic strains: the Cambridge strain in which abnormalities occur in over 80% of animals, and the Edinburgh strain in which the penetrance of abnormal behaviour has declined to about 1%. Breeding experiments suggest that the differences are largely due to differences in the genetic backgrounds which modify foetal susceptibilities to the teratogenic effects of high histidine levels. High susceptibility appears to be dominant over low susceptibility in the present strains. There appears to be no interaction of maternal histidinaemia with the dreher mutation which is considered to induce inner ear malformation as a result of an early neural tube abnormality. © 1987, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.