A genetic analysis of neocortical ectopias in New Zealand black autoimmune mice.

Two experiments investigated the heritability of neocortical ectopias seen in 30-40% of New Zealand Black (NZB/BINJ) autoimmune mice. The first study examined the brains of mice from the NZB x SM/J recombinant inbred (RI) strains. Fifteen RI inbred strains were examined and over half had ectopias suggesting that a major gene was involved in ectopia production. A follow-up experiment comparing the incidence of ectopias among crosses between NZB and control DBA/2 strains showed that the predisposition to develop ectopias in NZB is a recessively inherited trait with incomplete penetrance.