Learning,AMPA receptor mobility and synaptic plasticity depend on n‐cofilin‐mediated actin dynamics |
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| Authors: | Marco B Rust Christine B Gurniak Marianne Renner Hugo Vara Laura Morando Andreas Görlich Marco Sassoè‐Pognetto Mumna Al Banchaabouchi Maurizio Giustetto Antoine Triller Daniel Choquet Walter Witke |
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| Institution: | 1. Mouse Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Monterotondo, Italy;2. Department of Biology, Neurobiology/Neurophysiology Group, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany;3. Institute of Genetics, Rheinische Friedrich‐Wilhelms University, Bonn, Germany;4. Biologie Cellulaire de la Synapse N&P, INSERM U497, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France;5. Physiologie Cellulaire de la Synapse, UMR 5091 CNRS/Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France;6. National Institute of Neuroscience Italy and Department of Anatomy, Pharmacology and Forensic Medicine, University of Turin, Turin, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Neuronal plasticity is an important process for learning, memory and complex behaviour. Rapid remodelling of the actin cytoskeleton in the postsynaptic compartment is thought to have an important function for synaptic plasticity. However, the actin‐binding proteins involved and the molecular mechanisms that in vivo link actin dynamics to postsynaptic physiology are not well understood. Here, we show that the actin filament depolymerizing protein n‐cofilin is controlling dendritic spine morphology and postsynaptic parameters such as late long‐term potentiation and long‐term depression. Loss of n‐cofilin‐mediated synaptic actin dynamics in the forebrain specifically leads to impairment of all types of associative learning, whereas exploratory learning is not affected. We provide evidence for a novel function of n‐cofilin function in synaptic plasticity and in the control of extrasynaptic excitatory AMPA receptors diffusion. These results suggest a critical function of actin dynamics in associative learning and postsynaptic receptor availability. |
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| Keywords: | actin cytoskeleton neuronal physiology synaptic plasticity |
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