Cntn4, a risk gene for neuropsychiatric disorders, modulates hippocampal synaptic plasticity and behavior.

ABSTRACT: Neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), anorexia nervosa (AN), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and schizophrenia (SZ), are heterogeneous brain disorders with unknown etiology. Genome wide studies have revealed a wide variety of risk genes for these disorders, indicating a biological link between genetic signaling pathways and brain pathology. A unique risk gene is Contactin 4 (Cntn4), an Ig cell adhesion molecule (IgCAM) gene, which has been associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders including ASD, AN, AD, and SZ. Here, we investigated the Cntn4 gene knockout (KO) mouse model to determine whether memory dysfunction and altered brain plasticity, common neuropsychiatric symptoms, are affected by Cntn4 genetic disruption. For that purpose,

SUBMITTER: Oguro-Ando A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7862349 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature