title: CPEB4 knockout mice exhibit normal hippocampus-related synaptic plasticity and memory.
abstract: Regulated RNA translation is critical to provide proteins needed to maintain persistent modification of synaptic strength, which underlies the molecular basis of long-term memory (LTM). Cytoplasmic polyadenylation element-binding proteins (CPEBs) are sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins and regulate translation in various tissues. All four CPEBs in vertebrates are expressed in the brain, including the hippocampal neurons, suggesting their potential roles in translation-dependent plasticity and memory. Although CPEB1 and CPEB3 have been shown to control specific kinds of hippocampus-related LTM, the role of CPEB2 and CPEB4 in learning and memory remains elusive. Thus, we generated CPEB4 knockout (KO) mice and analyzed them using several behavioral tests. No difference was found in the anxiety level, motor coordination, hippocampus-dependent learning and memory between the KO mice and their wild-type (WT) littermates. Electrophysiological recordings of multiple forms of synaptic plasticity in the Schaffer collateral pathway-CA1 neurons also showed normal responses in the KO hippocampal slices. Morphological analyses revealed that the CPEB4-lacking pyramidal neurons possessed slightly elongated dendritic spines. Unlike its related family members, CPEB1 and CPEB3, CPEB4 seems to be dispensable for hippocampus-dependent plasticity, learning and memory.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Li-Yun
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan ; Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Wei
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Yi
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Jung
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan ; Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ta-Jen
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ping-Tao
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Hsuan
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yueh-Liang
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tsou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan ; Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan ; Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-Shuian
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000235:genetics*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C477604:Cpeb4 protein, mouse; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins