Genetic approaches to neurotrauma research: Opportunities and potential pitfalls of murine models

Genetic strategies provide new ways to define the molecular cascades that r egulate the responses of the mammalian nervous system to injury. Genetic in terventions also provide opportunities to manipulate and control hey molecu lar steps in these cascades, so as to modify the outcome of CNS injury. Mos t current genetic strategies involve the use of mice, an animal that has no t heretofore been used extensively for neurotrauma research. Therefore, one purpose of the present review is to consider how mice respond to neural tr auma, focusing especially on recent information that reveals important diff erences between mice and rats, and between different inbred strains of mice . The second aim of this review is to provide a brief introduction to the o pportunities, caveats, and potential pitfalls of studies that use genetical ly modified animals for neurotrauma research. (C) 1999 Academic Press.