Microtubule Stabilizer Ameliorates Functional Connectivity in a MAP6 Deficient Mouse: A Manganese Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Alexia Daoust¹, ², Emmanuel Luc Barbier¹, ², Annie Andrieux¹, ², Sylvain Bohic¹, ³, Jean-Chritophe Deloulme¹, ²

The STOP/MAP6 null mouse is a microtubule-deficient model of schizophrenia. Using MEMRI, we traced the cortico-thalamic tract after MnCl2 injection in the primary somatosensory cortex. Twenty-four hours after injection, the MRI relative signal intensity revealed that polysynaptic thalamo-cortical and cortico-pontic tracts were affected but not the monosynaptic tracts. These alterations were reversed after administration of a microtubule stabilizer to the animals.