Synaptic function of nicastrin in hippocampal neurons.

ABSTRACT: Synaptic dysfunction is widely thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Presenilins, the major gene products involved in familial AD, are essential for short- and long-term synaptic plasticity in mature neurons as well as for the survival of cortical neurons during aging. Presenilin and nicastrin are both indispensable components of the γ-secretase complex, but it remains unknown whether presenilin regulates synaptic function in a γ-secretase-dependent or γ-secretase-independent manner and whether nicastrin plays similar roles in central synapses. In the current study, we address these questions using an electrophysiological approach to analyze nicastrin conditional knockout (cKO) mice in the hippocampal Schaffer collateral pathway. In these mice, we foun

SUBMITTER: Lee SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4066509 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature