Journal
NEURON
Volume 65, Issue 2, Pages 165-177Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2009.12.026
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Funding
- National Institutes of Health, USA [NS37342]
- National Basic Research Program of China [2006CB3031, 2009CB941303]
- NSFC China [30630026, 20091300830]
- The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China [2007AA02Z443]
- Tsinghua-Yue-Yuen Medical Sciences Fund
- China Scientific Foundation [023205002]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [R31-2008-000-10089-0] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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Learning and memory are fundamental brain functions affected by dietary and environmental factors. Here, we show that increasing brain magnesium using a newly developed magnesium compound (magnesium-L-threonate, MgT) leads to the enhancement of learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory in rats. The pattern completion ability was also improved in aged rats. MgT-treated rats had higher density of synaptophysin-/synaptobrevin-positive puncta in DG and CA1 subregions of hippocampus that were correlated with memory improvement. Functionally, magnesium increased the number of functional presynaptic release sites, while it reduced their release probability. The resultant synaptic reconfiguration enabled selective enhancement of synaptic transmission for burst inputs. Coupled with concurrent upregulation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors and its downstream signaling, synaptic plasticity induced by correlated inputs was enhanced. Our findings suggest that an increase in brain magnesium enhances both short-term synaptic facilitation and long-term potentiation and improves learning and memory functions.
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