TY - JOUR
T1 - β-Catenin in the Adult Visual Cortex Regulates NMDA-Receptor Function and Visual Responses
AU - Saiepour, M Hadi
AU - Min, Rogier
AU - Kamphuis, Willem
AU - Heimel, J Alexander
AU - Levelt, Christiaan N
N1 - © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2017/2/10
Y1 - 2017/2/10
N2 - The formation, plasticity and maintenance of synaptic connections is regulated by molecular and electrical signals. β-Catenin is an important protein in these events and regulates cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and the recruitment of pre- and postsynaptic proteins in an activity-dependent fashion. Mutations in the β-catenin gene can cause cognitive disability and autism, with life-long consequences. Understanding its synaptic function may thus be relevant for the treatment of these disorders. So far, β-catenin's function has been studied predominantly in cell culture and during development but knowledge on its function in adulthood is limited. Here, we show that ablating β-catenin in excitatory neurons of the adult visual cortex does not cause the same synaptic deficits previously observed during development. Instead, it reduces NMDA-receptor currents and impairs visual processing. We conclude that β-catenin remains important for adult cortical function but through different mechanisms than during development.
AB - The formation, plasticity and maintenance of synaptic connections is regulated by molecular and electrical signals. β-Catenin is an important protein in these events and regulates cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and the recruitment of pre- and postsynaptic proteins in an activity-dependent fashion. Mutations in the β-catenin gene can cause cognitive disability and autism, with life-long consequences. Understanding its synaptic function may thus be relevant for the treatment of these disorders. So far, β-catenin's function has been studied predominantly in cell culture and during development but knowledge on its function in adulthood is limited. Here, we show that ablating β-catenin in excitatory neurons of the adult visual cortex does not cause the same synaptic deficits previously observed during development. Instead, it reduces NMDA-receptor currents and impairs visual processing. We conclude that β-catenin remains important for adult cortical function but through different mechanisms than during development.
KW - Journal Article
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U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhx029
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhx029
M3 - Article
C2 - 28184425
VL - 28
SP - 1
EP - 12
JO - Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
JF - Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
SN - 1047-3211
IS - 4
ER -