Neuronal NT-3 is not required for synaptic transmission or long-term potentiation in area CA1 of the adult rat hippocampus

Long Ma, Gerald Reis, Luis F. Parada, Erin M. Schuman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Neurotrophic factors, including BDNF and NT-3, have been implicated in the regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Previous attempts to analyze synaptic transmission and plasticity in mice lacking the NT-3 gene have been hampered by the early death of the NT-3 homozygous knockout animals. We have bypassed this problem by examining synaptic transmission in mice in which the NT-3 gene is deleted in neurons later in development, by crossing animals expressing the CRE recombinase driven by the synapsin I promoter to animals in which the NT-3 gene is floxed. We conducted blind field potential recordings at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapse in hippocampal slices from homozygous knockout and wild-type mice. We examined the following indices of synaptic transmission: (1) input-output relationship; (2) paired-pulse facilitation; (3) post-tetanic potentiation; and (4) long-term potentiation: induced by two different protocols: (a) two trains of 100-Hz stimulation and (b) theta burst stimulation. We found no difference between the knockout and wild-type mice in any of the above measurements. These results suggest that neuronal NT-3 does not play an essential role in normal synaptic transmission and some forms of plasticity in the mouse hippocampus.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)267-275
Number of pages9
JournalLearning and Memory
Volume6
Issue number3
StatePublished - 1999

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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