Efficacy of a murine-p75-saporin immunotoxin for selective lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons in mice

Abstract

Selective lesioning of cholinergic neurons in the basal forebrain provides a tool for examining the functional significance of cholinergic loss, which is associated with a number of developmental and neurodegenerative disorders. A new version of an immunotoxin (murine-p75NTR-saporin) was used to produce a selective loss of cholinergic neurons in the adult basal forebrain of the mouse. This new version of the toxin is significantly more potent and selective than a previously developed version. C57Bl/6J mice (n = 30) were given 1 μL of either saline or murine-p75NTR-saporin (0.65 μg/μL or 1.3 μg/μL) into the lateral ventricles, and then sacrificed 10-12 days post-surgery for histological analy..