Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 105, Issue 27, Pages 9391-9396Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0802679105
Keywords
synaptic transmission; synaptogenesis; learning deficits
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Funding
- NIMH NIH HHS [R01 MH081060] Funding Source: Medline
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Learning and memory depend on the activity-dependent structural plasticity of synapses and changes in neuronal gene expression. We show that deletion of the MEF2C transcription factor in the CNS of mice impairs hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Unexpectedly, these behavioral changes were accompanied by a marked increase in the number of excitatory synapses and potentiation of basal and evoked synaptic transmission. Conversely, neuronal expression of a superactivating form of MEF2C results in a reduction of excitatory postsynaptic sites without affecting learning and memory performance. We conclude that MEF2C limits excessive synapse formation during activity-dependent refinement of synaptic connectivity and thus facilitates hippocampal-dependent learning and memory.
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