Morphological analysis of the compartments formed by the transgenic mouse astrocytes

我们已经产生了转基因小鼠，在其中星形胶质细胞被增强的绿色荧光蛋白(EGFP)标记。用GFAP免疫组织化学方法鉴定这些EGFP阳性细胞为星形胶质细胞。在激光共聚焦显微镜下，在中枢神经系统的新皮质、海马体、小脑、丘脑、穹隆体部、锥体束、脑干等部位均可见EGFP阳性细胞。EGFP在小脑、海马体、胼胝体和锥体束中的表达最高。然而，一些大脑区域，如新皮质和几个脑干核团，只显示出低水平的EGFP表达。因此，由于EGFP的异质性表达，脑干中神经元核团的边界没有被很好地描绘出来。

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.