Catecholaminergic cell type-specific expression of Cre recombinase in knock-in transgenic rats generated by the Combi-CRISPR technology

Cell groups containing catecholamines provide a useful model to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the morphogenesis, physiology, and pathology of the central nervous system. For this purpose, it is necessary to establish a system to induce catecholaminergic group-specific expression of Cre recombinase. Recently, we introduced a gene cassette encoding 2A peptide fused to Cre recombinase into the site between the C-terminus and translational termination codons of the rat tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) open reading frame by the Combi-CRISPR technology, which is a genomic editing method to enable an efficient knock-in (KI) of long DNA sequence into a target site. However, the expression patterns of the transgene and its function as well as the effect of the mutation on the biochemical and behavioral phenotypes in the KI strains have not been characterized yet. We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of TH-Cre KI rats as an experimental model for investigating the structure and function of catecholaminergic neurons in the brain. We detected cell type-specific expression of Cre recombinase and site-specific recombination activity in the representative catecholaminergic groups in the TH-Cre KI rat strains. In addition, we measured TH protein levels and catecholamine accumulation in the brain regions, as well as motor, reward-related, and anxiety-like behaviors, indicating that catecholamine metabolism and general behavior are apparently normal in these KI rats. TH-Cre KI rat strains produced by the Combi-CRISPR system offer a beneficial model to study the molecular and cellular mechanics for the morphogenesis, physiology, and pathology of catecholamine-containing neurons in the brain. [Display omitted] •Knock-in transgenic rats have a gene encoding a TH-2A-Cre protein precursor.•These rats showed efficient expression of recombinase in a cell type-specific manner.•The knock-in rats exhibited the normal biochemical and behavioral phenotypes.•The rats offer a model to study the structure and function of catecholamine neurons.