mortality/aging
• death between 13 and 34 weeks in most affected mice
|
growth/size/body
• most affected mice are smaller as ataxia progresses
|
vision/eye
• retinas show increased numbers of apoptotic photoreceptor cells
|
• loss of cone photoreceptors
|
• photoreceptor cell degeneration: cone-rod dystrophy type of retinal degeneration
|
• mutants exhibit progressive thinning of the outer nuclear layer starting at 12 weeks of age, with some regions narrowing to as few as six nuclei across
|
• cone-initiated responses are degraded faster than rod-driven responses
• mildly affected mutants show a reduction in cone-initiated responses while maintaining normal rod responses
• moderately affected mutants show a further reduction in cone-initiated and ultimately show an absence of both the cone and rod responses to the brightest light flash
|
• moderately affected mutants show a slight reduction in rod-initiated responses and ultimately show an absence of both the cone and rod responses to the brightest light flash
|
nervous system
• increase in active caspase-3 in Bergmann glia cell bodies, indicating increased apoptosis
• Purkinje cell dendrites are surrounded by swollen Bergmann glial fibers
|
• Purkinje cells are flattened and exhibit less dendritic arborization, and nuclei have occasional invaginations and appear granular
• however, no significant neuronal loss is observed
|
• severe Purkinje cell degeneration (smaller and shrunken) at 20 weeks of age, despite the absence of expression of the polyglutamine-expanded SCA7 in Purkinje cells
(J:77530)
• 54% of Purkinje cells show increased electron density and 38% of Purkinje cells show swollen endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and rough ER denuded of ribosomes, indicating Purkinje cell degeneration
(J:113150)
• dark cell degeneration of Purkinje cells
(J:113150)
|
• retinas show increased numbers of apoptotic photoreceptor cells
|
• loss of cone photoreceptors
|
• photoreceptor cell degeneration: cone-rod dystrophy type of retinal degeneration
|
• glutamate uptake capacity is reduced by approximately 40% in cerebellar synaptosomes
|
behavior/neurological
• mutants become less explorative
|
• mutants startle easily
|
limb grasping
(
J:77530
)
• 50% of 12 week old mutants are claspers in the clasping test
|
• 50% of 12 week old mutants fail in a ledge test
|
• impairment in rotarod function by 8 weeks of age which worsens over time
|
abnormal gait
(
J:77530
)
• an unsteady gait develops beginning at 8-15 weeks of age
|
• 50% of 12 week old mutants are inactive
|
Mouse Models of Human Disease |
DO ID | OMIM ID(s) | Ref(s) | |
spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 | DOID:0050958 |
OMIM:164500 |
J:71971 , J:77530 , J:113150 |