Alpha-CaMKII deficiency causes immature dentate gyrus, a novel candidate endophenotype of psychiatric disorders.

ABSTRACT: Elucidating the neural and genetic factors underlying psychiatric illness is hampered by current methods of clinical diagnosis. The identification and investigation of clinical endophenotypes may be one solution, but represents a considerable challenge in human subjects. Here we report that mice heterozygous for a null mutation of the alpha-isoform of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (alpha-CaMKII+/-) have profoundly dysregulated behaviours and impaired neuronal development in the dentate gyrus (DG). The behavioral abnormalities include a severe working memory deficit and an exaggerated infradian rhythm, which are similar to symptoms seen in schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Transcriptome analysis of the hippocampus of these mutants reveale

SUBMITTER: Yamasaki N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2562999 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature