Experience Recruits MSK1 to Expand the Dynamic Range of Synapses and Enhance Cognition.

ABSTRACT: Experience powerfully influences neuronal function and cognitive performance, but the cellular and molecular events underlying the experience-dependent enhancement of mental ability have remained elusive. In particular, the mechanisms that couple the external environment to the genomic changes underpinning this improvement are unknown. To address this, we have used male mice harboring an inactivating mutation of mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase 1 (MSK1), a brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-activated enzyme downstream of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. We show that MSK1 is required for the full extent of experience-induced improvement of spatial memory, for the expansion of the dynamic range of synapses, exemplified by the enhancement of hippocampal l

SUBMITTER: Privitera L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7294801 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature