Early transcriptome changes in response to chemical long-term potentiation induced via activation of synaptic NMDA receptors in mouse hippocampal neurons

Long term potentiation (LTP) is a form of synaptic plasticity. In the present study LTP was induced via activation of synaptic NMDA receptors in primary hippocampal neuron cultures from neonate mice and RNA was isolated for RNA sequencing at 20 min following LTP induction. RNA sequencing and differential expression testing was performed to determine the identity and abundance of protein-coding and non-coding RNAs in control and LTP induced neuron cultures. We show that expression levels of a small group of transcripts encoding proteins involved in negative regulation of gene expression (Adcyap1, Id3), protein translation (Rpl22L1), extracellular structure organization (Bgn), intracellular signalling (Ppm1H, Ntsr2, Cldn10) and protein citrullination (PAD2) are downregulated in the stimulated neurons. Our results suggest that the early stages of LTP are accompanied by the remodelling of the biosynthetic machinery, interactions with the extracellular matrix and intracellular signalling pathways at the transcriptional level.