| First Author | Wei P | Year | 2011 |
| Journal | Mol Cell Biol | Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 14 | Pages | 2838-44 |
| PubMed ID | 21576365 | Mgi Jnum | J:174091 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5051877 | Doi | 10.1128/MCB.05208-11 |
| Citation | Wei P, et al. (2011) Impaired Locomotor Learning and Altered Cerebellar Synaptic Plasticity in pep-19/pcp4-Null Mice. Mol Cell Biol 31(14):2838-44 |
| abstractText | PEP-19/PCP4 maps within the Down syndrome critical region and encodes a small, predominantly neuronal, IQ motif protein. Pep-19 binds calmodulin and inhibits calmodulin-dependent signaling, which is critical for synaptic function, and therefore alterations in Pep-19 levels may affect synaptic plasticity and behavior. To investigate its possible role, we generated and characterized pep-19/pcp4-null mice. Synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses of cerebellar Purkinje cells, which express the highest levels of Pep-19, was dramatically altered in pep-19/pcp4-null mice. Instead of long-term depression, pep-19/pcp4-null mice exhibited long-term potentiation at parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses. The mutant mice have a marked deficit in their ability to learn a locomotor task, as measured by improved performance upon repeated testing on an accelerating rotarod. Thus, our data indicate that pep-19/pcp4 is a critical determinant of synaptic plasticity in cerebellum and locomotor learning. |
