Deletion of PTEN produces deficits in conditioned fear and increases fragile X mental retardation protein.
The phosphatase and tensin homolog detected on chromosome 10 (PTEN) gene product modulates activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/AKT pathway. The PI3K pathway has been found to be involved in the regulation of the fragile X mental retardation protein, which is important for long-term depression and in the formation of new memories. We used delayed fear conditioning and trace fear conditioning to determine learning and memory deficits in neuron subset-specific Pten (NS-Pten) conditional knockout (KO) mice. We found that NS-Pten KO mice had deficits in contextual learning and trace conditioning, but did not have deficits in the ability to learn a conditioned stimulus. Furthermore, we found increased levels in the total and phosphorylated forms of the fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) in the hippocampus of NS-Pten KO mice.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, Texas 76798, USA.
Joaquin N
JN
Lugo
Gregory D
GD
Smith
Jessica B
JB
Morrison
Jessika
J
White
D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D051860:Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D051058:Oncogene Protein v-akt / Q000378:metabolism; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000235:genetics; D038744:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 90-kDa / Q000378:metabolism
D051860:Fragile X Messenger Ribonucleoprotein 1; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D051058:Oncogene Protein v-akt; D051059:PTEN Phosphohydrolase; D038744:Ribosomal Protein S6 Kinases, 90-kDa; C512964:Rps6ka1 protein, mouse; C487757:Pten protein, mouse