Arc/Arg3.1 is robustly induced by plasticity-producing stimulation and specifically targeted to stimulated synaptic areas. To investigate the role of Arc/Arg3.1 in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory, we generated Arc/Arg3.1 knockout mice. These animals fail to form long-lasting memories for implicit and explicit learning tasks, despite intact short-term memory. Moreover, they exhibit a biphasic alteration of hippocampal long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus and area CA1 with an enhanced early and absent late phase. In addition, long-term depression is significantly impaired. Together, these results demonstrate a critical role for Arc/Arg3.1 in the consolidation of enduring synaptic plasticity and memory storage.

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is a crucial mediator of inflammatory pain sensitization. Here, we demonstrate that inhibition of a specific glycine receptor subtype (GlyR alpha3) by PGE2-induced receptor phosphorylation underlies central inflammatory pain sensitization. We show that GlyR alpha3 is distinctly expressed in superficial layers of the spinal cord dorsal horn. Mice deficient in GlyR alpha3 not only lack the inhibition of glycinergic neurotransmission by PGE2 seen in wild-type mice but also show a reduction in pain sensitization induced by spinal PGE2 injection or peripheral inflammation. Thus, GlyR alpha3 may provide a previously unrecognized molecular target in pain therapy.

Extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK1 and 2) are synaptic signaling components necessary for several forms of learning. In mice lacking ERK1, we observe a dramatic enhancement of striatum-dependent long-term memory, which correlates with a facilitation of long-term potentiation in the nucleus accumbens. At the cellular level, we find that ablation of ERK1 results in a stimulus-dependent increase of ERK2 signaling, likely due to its enhanced interaction with the upstream kinase MEK. Consistently, such activity change is responsible for the hypersensitivity of ERK1 mutant mice to the rewarding properties of morphine. Our results reveal an unexpected complexity of ERK-dependent signaling in the brain and a critical regulatory role for ERK1 in the long-term adaptive changes underlying striatum-dependent behavioral plasticity and drug addiction.

Corticosteroid action in the brain is mediated by the mineralocorticoid (MR) and the glucocorticoid (GR) receptor. Disturbances in MR-and GR-mediated effects are thought to impair cognition, behavior, and endocrine control. To assess the function of the limbic MR in these processes, we inactivated the MR gene in the forebrain of the mouse using the Cre͞loxP-recombination system. We screened the mice with a limbic MR deficiency in various learning and exploration tests. The mutant mice show impaired learning of the water-maze task and deficits in measures of working memory on the radial maze due to behavioral perseverance and stereotypy. They exhibit a hyperreactivity toward a novel object but normal anxiety-like behavior. The behavioral changes are associated with abnormalities of the mossy fiber projection and an up-regulation of GR expression in the hippocampus. Adult mutant mice show normal corticosterone levels at circadian trough and peak. This genetic model provides important information about the consequences of a permanently altered balance between limbic MR and GR, with implications for stress-related neuroendocrine and neuropsychiatric diseases.behavior ͉ neuroendocrine ͉ synaptic plasticity

Gene mutations and gene copy number variants are associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Affected gene products are often part of signaling networks implicated in synapse formation and/or function leading to alterations in the excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance. Although the network of parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons has gained particular attention in ASD, little is known on PV's putative role with respect to ASD. Genetic mouse models represent powerful translational tools for studying the role of genetic and neurobiological factors underlying ASD. Here, we report that PV knockout mice (PV−/−) display behavioral phenotypes with relevance to all three core symptoms present in human ASD patients: abnormal reciprocal social interactions, impairments in communication and repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior. PV-depleted mice also showed several signs of ASD-associated comorbidities, such as reduced pain sensitivity and startle responses yet increased seizure susceptibility, whereas no evidence for behavioral phenotypes with relevance to anxiety, depression and schizophrenia was obtained. Reduced social interactions and communication were also observed in heterozygous (PV+/−) mice characterized by lower PV expression levels, indicating that merely a decrease in PV levels might be sufficient to elicit core ASD-like deficits. Structural magnetic resonance imaging measurements in PV−/− and PV+/− mice further revealed ASD-associated developmental neuroanatomical changes, including transient cortical hypertrophy and cerebellar hypoplasia. Electrophysiological experiments finally demonstrated that the E/I balance in these mice is altered by modification of both inhibitory and excitatory synaptic transmission. On the basis of the reported changes in PV expression patterns in several, mostly genetic rodent models of ASD, we propose that in these models downregulation of PV might represent one of the points of convergence, thus providing a common link between apparently unrelated ASD-associated synapse structure/function phenotypes.

Previous studies addressing the role of the transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) in mammalian long-term synaptic plasticity and memory by gene targeting were compromised by incomplete deletion of the CREB isoforms. Therefore, we generated conditional knock-out strains with a marked reduction or complete deletion of all CREB isoforms in the hippocampus. In these strains, no deficits could be detected in lasting forms of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). When tested for hippocampus-dependent learning, mutants showed normal context-dependent fear conditioning. Water maze learning was impaired during the early stages, but many mutants showed satisfactory scores in probe trials thought to measure hippocampus-dependent spatial memory. However, conditioned taste aversion learning, a putatively hippocampus-independent memory test, was markedly impaired. Our data indicate that in the adult mouse brain, loss of CREB neither prevents learning nor substantially affects performance in some hippocampus-dependent tasks. Furthermore, it spares LTP and LTD in paradigms that are sensitive enough to detect deficits in other mutants. This implies either a species-specific or regionally restricted role of CREB in the brain and/or a compensatory upregulation of the cAMP response element modulator (CREM) and other as yet unidentified transcription factors.

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