Samples were also prepared from

the liver, a tissue lacking GABAA receptors, to confirm probe specificity. Expression of mRNAs was assessed by the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR). Complementary DNAs (cDNAs) were generated from the RNAs using the High Capacity RNA-to-DNA kit (Life Technologies). Real-time q-PCR was carried out using TaqMan chemistry and Assays-on-Demand probes (Applied Biosystems) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for the GABAA receptor α1 (Mm00439046_m1), α2 (Mm00433435_m1), α4 (Mm00802631_m1), α5 (Mm00621092_m1), α6 (Mm01227754_m1), β2 (Mm00633467_m1), γ2 (Mm00433489_m1), δ (Mm00433476_m1), and ε (Mm00489932_m1) subunits. Additional assays were performed for glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65; Mm00484623_m1), and GAD67 (Mm00725661_s1), enzymes important in GABA synthesis, and gephyrin (Mm00556895_m1), a molecule participating in receptor clustering at the synapse. 18S rRNA (4352930E) was used as an internal standard. RNA data analysis Assays were all performed in triplicate using Applied Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Biosystems Step-One Plus Real-Time PCR system. The CT (cycle number at threshold) was used to calculate

relative mRNA amounts (Livak and Schmittgen 2001). The CT of each target gene was normalized by PKA signaling inhibitors subtracting the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical CT value of 18S RNA, the housekeeping gene, which gave the value ΔCT. Values are expressed as 2−ΔCT and are normalized to reference samples as indicated. Data from WT and KO animals are reported here. We also analyzed Gabra4+/− mice and found gene expression levels similar to WT (not shown). Results Characteristics of GABAA receptor α4 subunit-deficient mice Previous studies demonstrated Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical that Gabra4−/− mice were viable, bred normally, and were similar in weight to WT littermates (Chandra et al. 2006). These characteristics were maintained in the rederived Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical KO animals used in our studies. No significant differences in weight between WT and KO mice were found, and only background levels of the α4 subunit were detected immunohistochemically in the KO brain. Finally, brain

morphology was similar in WT and KO mice ranging from 30 to 90 days (P30–90) in age (data not shown). Loss of the GABAA receptor α4 subunit results in decreased ventilatory pattern variability To test the possibility that global loss of the GABAA receptor aminophylline α4 subunit affects respiration, ventilatory wave forms were recorded from spontaneously breathing, unrestrained WT (n = 13) and KO (n = 16) mice using flow-through plethysmography. Representative traces (Fig. 1A) show that the ventilatory patterns of WT and KO mice were similar. Further analysis revealed that total time of the respiratory cycle (TTOT) for all mice was comparable (~300 msec/breath; Fig. 1B). Figure 1 The variability of respiration is reduced in α4 subunit-deficient mice.