Table 1. The advantage of in utero electroporation.

There are many advantages of in utero electroporation for addressing the effect of genetic risk factors for major mental disorders as listed in this table. Furthermore, this method is relatively simple and quick (the entire process of surgery with electroporation for one pregnant rodent can be done within 30 min), and less labor intensive approach relative to the generation of genetically engineered mice.

Advantages	Details	Selected references
Region specific gene targeting	Prefrontal cortex, piriform cortex, somatosensory cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and retina	(Bai and others 2008; Kubo and others 2010a; Nakahira and Yuasa 2005; Niwa and others 2010; Punzo and Cepko 2008; Remedios and others 2007; Tabata and Nakajima 2001)
Inducible gene targeting	Study specific cellular processes in the developmental trajectory	(Manent and others 2009; Matsuda and Cepko 2007)
Cell type specific gene targeting	Pyramidal neurons in layer II/III, IV, and V/VI, interneurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, as well as progenitor cells and post-mitotic migrating neurons	(Borrell and others 2005; Kamiya 2009; LoTurco and others 2009; Miyagi and others 2004; Rice and others 2010; Wang and others 2007; Yoshida and others 2010)
Multiple gene targeting	Synergistic and epistatic effect of genetic risks; More than one gene can be modulated simultaneously	(Kamiya and others 2008; Young-Pearse and others 2007)
Rescue experiment	Explore disease pathways (protein interaction and cellular signaling, including translational modification and transcriptional regulation) The effect of disease-associated mutations	(Ishizuka and others 2011; Kubo and others 2010b; Langevin and others 2007; Manent and others 2009; Young-Pearse and others 2007; Young-Pearse and others 2010)
Acute suppression by RNAi	Avoiding compensation machinery by acute introduction of shRNA	(Bai and others 2003)
Behavior and circuit	Region and neuronal circuit dependent behaviors and functional outcome can be tested	(Manent and others 2009; Niwa and others 2010)