| First Author | Misner DL | Year | 2001 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 98 |
| Issue | 20 | Pages | 11714-9 |
| PubMed ID | 11553775 | Mgi Jnum | J:134060 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3784911 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.191369798 |
| Citation | Misner DL, et al. (2001) Vitamin A deprivation results in reversible loss of hippocampal long-term synaptic plasticity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98(20):11714-9 |
| abstractText | Despite its long history, the central effects of progressive depletion of vitamin A in adult mice has not been previously described. An examination of vitamin-deprived animals revealed a progressive and ultimately profound impairment of hippocampal CA1 long-term potentiation and a virtual abolishment of long-term depression. Importantly, these losses are fully reversible by dietary vitamin A replenishment in vivo or direct application of all trans-retinoic acid to acute hippocampal slices. We find retinoid responsive transgenes to be highly active in the hippocampus, and by using dissected explants, we show the hippocampus to be a site of robust synthesis of bioactive retinoids. In aggregate, these results demonstrate that vitamin A and its active derivatives function as essential competence factors for long-term synaptic plasticity within the adult brain, and suggest that key genes required for long-term potentiation and long-term depression are retinoid dependent. These data suggest a major mental consequence for the hundreds of millions of adults and children who are vitamin A deficient. |
