title: Immunohistochemical visualization of hippocampal neuron activity after spatial learning in a mouse model of neurodevelopmental disorders.
abstract: Induction of phosphorylated extracellular-regulated kinase (pERK) is a reliable molecular readout of learning-dependent neuronal activation. Here, we describe a pERK immunohistochemistry protocol to study the profile of hippocampal neuron activation following exposure to a spatial learning task in a mouse model characterized by cognitive deficits of neurodevelopmental origin. Specifically, we used pERK immunostaining to study neuronal activation following Morris water maze (MWM, a classical hippocampal-dependent learning task) in Engrailed-2 knockout (En2(-/-)) mice, a model of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). As compared to wild-type (WT) controls, En2(-/-) mice showed significant spatial learning deficits in the MWM. After MWM, significant differences in the number of pERK-positive neurons were detected in specific hippocampal subfields of En2(-/-) mice, as compared to WT animals. Thus, our protocol can robustly detect differences in pERK-positive neurons associated to hippocampal-dependent learning impairment in a mouse model of ASD. More generally, our protocol can be applied to investigate the profile of hippocampal neuron activation in both genetic or pharmacological mouse models characterized by cognitive deficits.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Provenzano
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pangrazzi
authors.affiliation: CNR Neuroscience Institute, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Poli
authors.affiliation: CNR Neuroscience Institute, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Berardi
authors.affiliation: Centre for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), University of Trento; CNR Neuroscience Institute, Pisa, Italy; yuri.bozzi@unitn.it.
authors.forename: Yuri
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bozzi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D065886:Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology*; D065853:Spatial Learning / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D048049:Extracellular Signal-Regulated MAP Kinases