title: Normal delay eyeblink conditioning in mice devoid of astrocytic S100B.
abstract: S100B is a small calcium binding protein synthesized and secreted mostly by astrocytes. Mice devoid of S100B (S100B-KO) develop without detectable anatomic abnormalities of the brain, but exhibit enhanced hippocampal long-term potentiation and enhanced performance in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory tasks, indicating that S100B has a crucial role in hippocampal neuronal plasticity. In the present study, we examined whether S100B has a similar role in the cerebellar regions, because Bergmann glia, a specialized subset of astrocytes in the cerebellar cortex, express a particularly large amount of S100B under physiologic conditions. Unlike in the hippocampus-dependent tasks, S100B-KO mice were indistinguishable from wild-type mice in both cerebellum-dependent motor coordination and delay eyeblink conditioning, a well-established paradigm for cerebellum-dependent learning and memory. These results suggest that S100B has differential roles in the hippocampus and cerebellum.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Behavioral Genetics, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako 351-0198, Japan.
authors.forename: Hye-Soo R
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Seto-Ohshima
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishiyama
authors.forename: Shigeyoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Itohara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D045442:Rotarod Performance Test / Q000379:methods; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D064568:S100 Calcium Binding Protein beta Subunit; D009418:S100 Proteins; C579159:S100b protein, mouse