title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor restores long-term potentiation in polysialic acid-neural cell adhesion molecule-deficient hippocampus.
abstract: The neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) and its polysialylated form (PSA-NCAM) contribute to long-term potentiation (LTP) in the CA1 hippocampus. Here we report that the deficient LTP found in slices prepared from NCAM knockout mice and in organotypic slice cultures treated with Endo-N, an enzyme that cleaves the PSA moiety of NCAM, can be rescued by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This effect is not reproduced by nerve growth factor, but can be obtained with high concentrations of NT4/5. The effect of BDNF cannot be accounted for by modifications of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-dependent responses or of high-frequency bursts. PSA-NCAM, however, could directly interact with BDNF. Exogenous application of PSA residues or recombinant PSA-NCAM also prevents LTP. Furthermore trkB phosphorylation, and thus BDNF signaling, is reduced in both NCAM knockout mice and Endo-N-treated slice cultures. These results suggest that one action of PSA-NCAM could be to sensitize pyramidal neurons to BDNF, thereby modulating activity-dependent synaptic plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Neuropharmacology and Department of Morphology, Centre Médical Universitaire, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. Dominique.Muller@medecine.unige.ch
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Djebbara-Hannas
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jourdain
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vutskits
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Durbec
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rougon
authors.forename: J Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Kiss
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000502:physiology*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020813:Receptor, trkB / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D020813:Receptor, trkB