Loss of survivin in neural precursor cells results in impaired long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus and CA1-region

Iscru, Emilia; Ahmed, Tariq; Coremans, Vanessa; Bozzi, Y; Caleo, M; Conway, Ed; D'Hooge, Rudi; Balschun, Detlef

doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.10.049

Loss of survivin in neural precursor cells results in impaired long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus and CA1-region

Author:

Iscru, Emilia

Ahmed, Tariq ; Coremans, Vanessa ; Bozzi, Y ; Caleo, M ; Conway, Ed ; D'Hooge, Rudi ; Balschun, Detlef

Keywords:

Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Neurosciences, Neurosciences & Neurology, survivin, LTP, dentate gyrus, picrotoxin, neurogenesis., NF-KAPPA-B, ADULT HIPPOCAMPAL NEUROGENESIS, ENHANCED SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY, TEMPORAL-LOBE EPILEPSY, GENERATED NEURONS, SPATIAL MEMORY, GRANULE CELLS, STEM-CELLS, AXONAL PROJECTIONS, PROGENITOR CELLS, Animals, CA1 Region, Hippocampal, Dentate Gyrus, Electroencephalography, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins, Long-Term Potentiation, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Neural Stem Cells, Neurogenesis, Neurons, Repressor Proteins, Survivin, 1109 Neurosciences, 1701 Psychology, 1702 Cognitive Sciences, Neurology & Neurosurgery, 3209 Neurosciences, 5202 Biological psychology

Abstract:

In adult mammals, newborn neural precursor cells (NPCs) derived from either the subventricular zone (SVZ) or the subgranular zone (SGZ) migrate into the olfactory bulb and the dentate gyrus (DG), respectively, where some of them mature into excitatory and inhibitory neurons. There is increasing evidence that this neurogenesis process is important for some types of learning and synaptic plasticity and vice versa. Survivin, a member of the inhibitor-of-apoptosis protein (IAP) family, has been suggested to have a central role in the regulation of neurogenesis. The protein is abundantly expressed in nervous tissue during embryonic development while being restricted postnatally to proliferating and migrating NPCs in SVZ and SGZ. Here we examined adult Survivin(Camcre) mice with a conditional deletion of the survivin gene in embryonic neurogenic regions. Although the deletion of survivin had no effect on basic excitability in DG and CA1-region, there was a marked impairment of long-term potentiation (LTP) in these areas. Our data support a function of survivin in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and learning and underline the importance of adult brain neurogenesis for proper operation of the hippocampal tri-synaptic circuit and the physiological functions that depend on it.