Genetic Control of Meso-diencephalic Dopaminergic Neuron Development in Rodents

Meso-diencephalic dopaminergic (mdDA) neurons play a key role in several human brain functions and are thus also involved in the pathophysiology of severe neurological and psychiatric disorders. The prospect of regenerative therapies for some of these disorders has fueled the interest of developmental neurobiologists in deciphering the molecular cues and processes controlling the generation of the mdDA neurons in the vertebrate brain. Rodents, in particular the mouse, have served as the classical model organism due to their phylogenetic relationship to humans, their relatively well-characterized mdDA system on both the anatomical and physiological levels, and the propensity of the mouse to undergo genetic manipulation. This chapter focuses on in vivo data obtained from the analyses of mutant mice, as several reports have indicated that cell culture-based in vitro data do not always recapitulate the in vivo situation.