Reelin Improves Cognition and Extends the Lifespan of Mutant Ndel1 Mice with Postnatal CA1 Hippocampus Deterioration
Abstract
The glycoprotein Reelin maintains neuronal positioning and regulates neuronal plasticity in the adult brain. Reelin deficiency has been associated with neurological diseases. We recently showed that Reelin is depleted in mice with a targeted disruption of the Ndel1 gene in forebrain postnatal excitatory neurons (Ndel1 conditional knockout (CKO)). Ndel1 CKO mice exhibit fragmented microtubules in CA1 pyramidal neurons, profound deterioration of the CA1 hippocampus and a shortened lifespan (~10 weeks). Here we report that Ndel1 CKO mice (of both sexes) experience spatial learning and memory deficits that are associated with deregulation of neuronal cell adhesion, plasticity and neurotransmission genes, as assessed by genome-wide transcriptome analysis of the hippocampus. Importantly, a single injection of Reelin protein in the hippocampus of Ndel1 CKO mice improves spatial learning and memory function and this is correlated with reduced intrinsic hyperexcitability of CA1 pyramidal neurons, and normalized gene deregulation in the hippocampus. Strikingly, when treated with Reelin, Ndel1 CKO animals that die from an epileptic phenotype, live twice as long as nontreated, or vehicle-treated CKO animals. Thus, Reelin confers striking beneficial effects in the CA1 hippocampus, and at both behavioral and organismal levels.
Additional Information
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model). Received: 11 December 2019; Revision received: 25 February 2020; Accepted: 21 March 2020; Published: 24 April 2020. We are grateful to Dr Tom Curran and Dr Joachim Herz for the Reelin-expressing cell line. Ivana Kiroski, Yulan Jiang and Cezar Gavrilovici contributed equally to this work. Funding: The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR; MOP74624 and MOP130495 to M.D.N. and G.C.T.); Alberta Innovates Health Solutions (AIHS) (to M.D.N.); the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute (to C.G. and J.M.R.); CIHR and a AIHS postdoctoral scholarship (to M.V.); Donald Burns and Louise Berlin graduate scholarship from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (to S.L.). This work was also supported by the Brain Research Program (2015M3C7A1030964 and 2017M3C7A1047875) funded by Korean National Research Foundation (KNRF) (to S.K.P).Attached Files
Supplemental Material - supplementary_bhaa088.zip
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Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC7391417
- Eprint ID
- 103420
- DOI
- 10.1093/cercor/bhaa088
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20200522-124105657
- MOP74624
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- MOP130495
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Alberta Innovates Health Solutions
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute
- 2015M3C7A1030964
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- 2017M3C7A1047875
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Created
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2020-05-22Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field