First Author | Korte M | Year | 1996 |
Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 93 |
Issue | 22 | Pages | 12547-52 |
PubMed ID | 8901619 | Mgi Jnum | J:36707 |
Mgi Id | MGI:84133 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.93.22.12547 |
Citation | Korte M, et al. (1996) Virus-mediated gene transfer into hippocampal CA1 region restores long-term potentiation in brain-derived neurotrophic factor mutant mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93(22):12547-52 |
abstractText | Long-term potentiation (LTP) has been shown to be impaired in mice deficient in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene, as well as in a number of other knockout animals. Despite its power the gene-targeting approach is always fraught with the danger of looking at the cumulative direct and indirect effects of the absence of a particular gene rather than its immediate function. The re- expression of a specific gene at a selective time point and at a specific site in gene-defective mutants presents a potent procedure to overcome this limitation and to evaluate the causal relationship between the absence of a particular gene and the impairment of a function in gene- defective animals. Here we demonstrate that the re- expression of the BDNF gene in the CA1 region almost completely restores the severely impaired LTP in hippocampal slices of BDNF-deficient mice. The results therefore provide strong evidence for the direct involvement of BDNF in the process of LTP. |