Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 35, Issue 5, Pages 2118-2132Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3280-14.2015
Keywords
ADHD; attention control; caspase-3; homeostatic synaptic plasticity; LTD; novelty habituation
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The ability to attend to relevant stimuli and to adapt dynamically as demands change is a core aspect of cognition, and one that is impaired in several neuropsychiatric diseases, including attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying such cognitive adaptability are poorly understood. We found that deletion of the caspase-3 gene, encoding an apoptosis protease with newly discovered roles in neural plasticity, disrupts attention in mice while preserving multiple learning and memory capabilities. Attention-related deficits include distractibility, impulsivity, behavioral rigidity, and reduced habituation to novel stimuli. Excess exploratory activity in Casp3(-/-) mice was correlated with enhanced novelty-induced activity in the dentate gyrus, which may be related to our findings that caspase-3 is required for homeostatic synaptic plasticity in vitro and homeostatic expression of AMPA receptors in vivo in response to chronic or repeated stimuli. These results suggest an important role for caspase-3 in synaptic suppression of irrelevant stimuli.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available