This time hippocampal 5-HT reuptake, instead of anxiety-related behavior, was taken as the criterion of selection. We observed that F344 rats displayed the highest rates of reuptake, while LEW were among those with the lowest. An analysis of various elements of central serotonergic systems in female F344 and LEW had previously indicated that 5-HTT

mRNA was more abundant in the dorsal raphe nucleus of F344, compared with LEW.36 This suggests that differences in mRNA expression underlie our observation of strain differences Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in protein function. We therefore performed a complete study of the central and peripheral 5-HTT in both sexes of both strains (manuscript submitted for publication). Indeed, midbrain and hippocampal [3H]paroxetine binding at the 5-HTT and hippocampal [3H]5-HT reuptake were increased in male and female F344, compared with their LEW counterparts, and these strain differences were observed both in rats of commercial origin and in laboratory-bred rats (thus excluding Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical strain differences linked to late selleck screening library environment changes).3 Moreover, in laboratory-bred rats, it was found that these strain differences extended to blood platelet 5-HTT protein expression

and function. Saturation studies of midbrain and hippocampal [3H]paroxetine binding at 5-HTT, and hippocampal and blood platelet. [3H]5-HT reuptake, also revealed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical slight, but significant, strain differences in Bmax and Vmax (maximal velocity) values. Although F344 and LEW differ in terms of the activity of the HPA axis,37,38 experiments conducted in male

rats that had been adrenalectomized or treated with corticosterone revealed that the strain differences in hippocampal [3H]paroxetine binding at 5-HTTs and [3H]5-HT reuptake were not accounted Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for by the HPA axis. Systemic administration of the SSRI citalopram decreased midbrain and hippocampal 5-HT turnover rates, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the amplitudes of which varied in a strain-independent manner. Conversely, hippocampal extracellular 5-HT levels were reduced in F344, compared with LEW, but the magnitude of the increase in extracellular 5-HT elicited by local administration of citalopram was larger in F344. Finally, at the molecular level, no strain differences were found in the respective coding sequences of the 5-HTT gene, thus suggesting that genetic differences, if any, lie in the promoter region (note that, as opposed to mice and humans, Adenylyl cyclase the rat 5-HTT gene promoter has not yet been cloned). Taken together, the results of this series of experiments indicate that the F344 and LEW strains will be useful in the study of the impact of genetics on 5-HTT and how allelic control of 5-HTT (which remains to be demonstrated) affects stress responses. Conclusion This short survey of our most recent experiments aimed to illustrate how the use of different inbred rat strains is a positive complementary approach to already existing transgenic models.