Niemann-Pick type C1 (NPC) disease is an autosomal recessive neurodegenerative 
disorder. One feature of the mouse model of NPC1 is it's infertility. We have 
made transgenic mice which express the Npc1 protein exclusively in fibrillary 
astrocytes, using the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter. This 
selective expression of Npc1 corrects sterility in GFAP-Npc1(-/-), Npc1(-/-) 
mice. Counts of acidophils in the pituitary of GFAP-Npc1E, Npc1(-/-) mice, as 
compared Npc1(-/-) mice, and measurements of dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) mRNA in 
the pituitary, suggest mechanisms for fertility enhancement. We conclude that 
the correction of sterility in GFAP-Npc1E, Npc1(-/-) mice is a result of 
restoring hypothalamic control of the pituitary.