Morphological analysis of the compartments formed by the transgenic mouse astrocytes

我们已经产生了转基因小鼠，其中星形胶质细胞标记的增强型绿色荧光蛋白（EGFP）。我们通过GFAP免疫染色方法鉴定这些EGFP阳性细胞为星形胶质细胞。在CNS的所有区域，如新皮质、海马、小脑、丘脑、胼胝体、锥体束和脑干，EGFP阳性细胞可以通过共聚焦激光显微镜可视化。在小脑、海马、胼胝体和锥体束中观察到最高的EGFP表达。然而，一些大脑区域，如新皮质和几个脑干核团仅显示低水平的EGFP表达。因此，由于EGFP的异质性表达，脑干中神经元核的边界不能很好地划定。

We have generated transgenic mice in which astrocytes are labeled by the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP). We identified these EGFP-positive cells as astrocytes by means of the GFAP immunostaining method. In all regions of the CNS, such as neocortex, hippocampus, cerebellum, thalamus, corpus callosum, pyramidal tract, and brain stem, EGFP-positive cells could be visualized by the confocal laser microscope. Highest EGFP expression was observed in the cerebellum, hippocampus, and corpus callosum, and pyramidal tract. Some brain areas, however, such as neocortex and several brain stem nuclei showed only low levels of EGFP expression. Therefore, the boundaries of the neuronal nuclei in the brain stem were not well delineated because of the heterogeneous expression of the EGFP.