A comparison of viral strategies and model systems to target norepinephrine neurons in the locus coeruleus reveals high variability in transgene expression patterns.

ABSTRACT: The locus coeruleus (LC) norepinephrine (NE) system is involved in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes. Refining our understanding of LC function largely relies on selective transgene expression in LC-NE neurons, allowing targeted manipulation and readout of noradrenergic neurons. Here, we performed a side-by-side comparison of the most commonly used strategies to genetically target the LC, including different cre driver lines and promoter-mediated transgene expression. We report differences between these strategies in terms of transgene expression efficacy and specificity. Parallelly, we found no behavioral alterations in cre-expressing mice of any mouse line compared to wild-type littermates. Finally, to further facilitate the investigation of LC-NE function, we c

SUBMITTER: Wissing C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12233902 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature