Review Article

Mouse Models of Down Syndrome as a Tool to Unravel the Causes of Mental Disabilities

Table 2

Neuromorphological and electrophysiological alterations DS and DS mouse models.

TrisomyHsa21Segment of Mmu16Segment of Mmu17Segment of Mmu10Segment of Mmu16, Mmu17, and Mmu10Hsa21
DSDp(16)1Yey/+Ts65DnTs2CjeTs1CjeMs1Ts65Ts1RhrDep(17)1Yey/+Ts1YahDp(10)1Yey/+Dp(10)1Yey/+; Dp(16)1Yey/+; Dep(17)1Yey/+ Yu et al., 2010Tc1

Brain volumeReducedReducedReduced during the embryonic periodReduced during the embryonic periodReducedReduced at 4 months of age

Neuronal densityReducedReducedReducedNot affected

Cerebellar volumeReducedReducedReducedNot affectedReducedReduced

Cerebellar neuronal densityReducedReducedReducedReduced

Neurogenesis(i) Impaired neural precursor proliferation(i) Impaired neural precursor proliferation(i) Impaired neural precursor proliferation(i) Impaired neural precursor proliferation
(ii) Slowing of the cell cycle(ii) Slowing of the cell cycle(ii) Impaired neurodifferentiation
(iii) Impaired neurodifferentiation(iii) Impaired neurodifferentiation(iii) Impaired cerebellar neurogenesis
(iv) Impaired cerebellar neurogenesis(iv) Impaired cerebellar neurogenesis

Dendrites and dendritic spines(i) Impaired morphology(i) Impaired morphology(i) Impaired morphology(i) Impaired morphology(i) Impaired morphology
(ii) Reduced density(ii) Reduced density(ii) Reduced density(ii) Reduced density(ii) Reduced density

Synaptic density(i) Reduced(i) Size of presynaptic boutons and average length of synaptic clefts are increased
(ii) Size of presynaptic boutons and average length of synaptic clefts are increased

Inhibition(i) Increased number of inhibitory synapses(i) Redistribution of inhibitory synapses
(ii) Decreased number of excitatory synapses
(iii) Redistribution of inhibitory synapses
(iv) Increased number of GABAergic interneurons

Electrophysiology(i) EEG abnormalities(i) Impaired hippocampal LTP(i) Impaired hippocampal LTP(i) Impaired hippocampal LTP(i) Impaired hippocampal LTP(i) Enhanced hippocampal LTP(i) Unchanged LTP(i) Impaired hippocampal LTP
(ii) EEG coherence differences
(iii) Alterations in event-related potentials