Figure 5.

AtrxNestinCre mice have a phenotype similar to that of AtrxFoxg1Cre animals. (A and B) In situ whole-mount analysis of NestinCre-transgenic mice (E13.5) from line 2472 on a β-geo reporter strain background shows high Cre activity in the forebrain and spinal cord. Atrxlox^P mice were mated to NestinCre-transgenic mouse line 2472 to achieve selective recombination of the Atrx gene in neuronal progenitors. ATRX (C) and DAPI (D) staining of forebrains isolated from AtrxNestinCr^e animals at birth demonstrate ATRX expression in early-born neurons of the marginal zone and the subplate, plus variegated expression throughout the cortex and hippocampus. Hematoxylin and eosin staining of cortex isolated from P0.5 mice of wild-type (E) and AtrxNestinCre animals (F) shows reduced cellularity. Similarly, neonatal hippocampal tissue sections from AtrxNestinCre (H) and a control littermate (G) also demonstrate hypocellularity in all hippocampal fields. Magnification, ×20 (C–H).