Finding an Appropriate Mouse Model to Study the Impact of a Treatment for Friedreich Ataxia on the Behavioral Phenotype

Bouchard, C.; Gérard, C.; Yanyabé, S.G.-f.; Majeau, N.; Aloui, M.; Buisson, G.; Yameogo, P.; Couture, V.; Tremblay, J.P. Finding an Appropriate Mouse Model to Study the Impact of a Treatment for Friedreich Ataxia on the Behavioral Phenotype. Genes 2023, 14, 1654. doi:10.3390/genes14081654

 The YG8sR mice are Knock-Out (KO) for their murine frataxin gene but contain a human frataxin transgene derived from an FRDA patient with 300 GAA repeats. These mice are used as a FRDA model but even with a low frataxin concentration, their phenotype is mild. We aimed to find an optimized mouse model with a phenotype comparable to the human patients to study the impact of therapy on the phenotype. We compared two mouse models: the YG8sR injected with an AAV. PHP.B coding for a shRNA targeting the human frataxin gene and the YG8-800, a new mouse model with a human transgene containing 800 GAA repeats.