INCREASED EXPRESSION OF 3-HYDROXYANTHRANILATE 3,4-DIOXYGENASE GENE INBRAIN OF EPILEPSY-PRONE E1 MICE

The El mouse is an established animal model for human epilepsy. We pre viously reported that the level of quinolinic acid (QUIN), an excitoto xin, was high in the brain of epilepsy-prone El mice and that the incr eased production of QUIN was secondary to an increased activity of 3-h ydroxyanthranilate 3,4-dioxygenase (3-HAO, EC 1.13.11.6) in the brains of these mice. In this study, we cloned and sequenced the cDNA for 3- HAO and showed that its expression in the brain of El mice was higher than that of control ddY mice. These results suggest that a genetic de fect leading to derepression of the 3-MAO gene expression in the brain may be involved in the pathogenesis for the epileptic diseases of El mice. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.