Adult brain neurons require continual expression of the schizophrenia-risk gene Tcf4 for structural and functional integrity.

ABSTRACT: The schizophrenia-risk gene Tcf4 has been widely studied in the context of brain development using mouse models of haploinsufficiency, in utero knockdown and embryonic deletion. However, Tcf4 continues to be abundantly expressed in adult brain neurons where its functions remain unknown. Given the importance of Tcf4 in psychiatric diseases, we investigated its role in adult neurons using cell-specific deletion and genetic tracing in adult animals. Acute loss of Tcf4 in adult excitatory neurons in vivo caused hyperexcitability and increased dendritic complexity of neurons, effects that were distinct from previously observed effects in embryonic-deficiency models. Interestingly, transcriptomic analysis of genetically traced adult-deleted FACS-sorted Tcf4-knockout neurons revealed that Tcf4 ta

SUBMITTER: Sarkar D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8464606 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature