Mice that are homozygously deficient in CRFR2 and uses thereof in drug screening

摘要

Disclosed are transgenic mice deficient in corticotropin releasing factor receptor 2 (CRFR2). CRFR2 mutant mice are hypersensitive to stress, and display increased anxiety-like behavior. The mice have homozygous defective CRFR2 genes, and exhibit a phenotype of increased anxiety behavior, a hypersensitive hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis response to stress and a muted cardiovascular response to urocortin administration. Such knockout mice are useful for screening compounds for anxiety modulating activity, blood pressure control and effect on the response of the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis to stress.