Transgenic mice overexpressing truncated trkB neurotrophin receptors in neurons show increased susceptibility to cortical injury after focal cerebral ischemia

It has been suggested that the increased production of endogenous BDNF after brain insults supports the survival of injured neurons and limits the spread of the damage. In order to test this hypothesis experimentally, we have produced transgenic mouse lines that overexpress the dominant-negative truncated splice variant of BDNF receptor trkB (trkB.T1) in postnatal cortical and hippocampal neurons. When these mice were exposed to transient focal cerebral ischemia by occluding the middle cerebral artery for 45 min and the damage was assessed 24 h later, transgenic mice had a significantly larger damage than wild-type littermates in the cerebral cortex (204 +/- 32% of wild-type, P = 0.02), but not in striatum, where the transgene is not expressed. Our results support the notion that endogenously expressed BDNF is neuroprotective and that BDNF signaling may have an important role in preventing brain damage after transient ischemia.