Model Systems for Studying Kisspeptin Signalling: Mice and Cells - Kisspeptin Signaling in Reproductive Biology - page 476

Fig. 22.2 Differences in the extent of hypogonadism between Kiss1r and Kiss1 mutant male mice.
Samples were collected from 7-month-old mice with at least 11 mice in each data set. a vs. b vs. c
p < 0.05. d vs. e vs. f p < 0.01 (one way ANOVA followed by Tukey-Kramer multiple conversion test)

Transgenic Mice with Tagged Kiss1r and Kiss1 Alleles

Recently, several transgenic mice have been generated that have functionally intact
Kiss1r and Kiss1 alleles that express modulator proteins that can be used to facili-
tate a number of downstream studies. The Kiss1r tm1.1 ( cre ) Uboe line has an IRES-Cre
transgene located just after the translational termination codon in exon 5 of the
Kiss1r gene [ 39 ]. This insertion does not disrupt expression of the kisspeptin recep-
tor and the mice are fertile. Confi rmation that CRE expression was restricted to
neuronal cells expressing the kisspeptin receptor was obtained by crossing the
Kiss1r tm1.1 ( cre ) Uboe mice with a reporter strain in which expression of

GFP is depen-
dent upon a CRE-mediated recombination event [ 40 ]. Hypothalamic sections
through the medial preoptic area showed that 99% of the GnRH neurons were
labelled with

τ

GFP consistent with the reported expression of the kisspeptin recep-
tor in these neurons [ 8 , 9 , 41 ].
The Kiss1 tm1.1 ( cre / EGFP ) Stei line contains a Cre / Gfp fusion gene inserted within the fi rst
exon of the Kiss1 gene just upstream of the ATG translational initiation codon [ 42 ].
The pattern of GFP expression in these mice recapitulates the expression profi le

τ