Prionic protein gene dosage is critical for maintenance of neuronal homeostasis of hippocampal circuits

We demonstrate that Prnp dosage is critical for the maintenance of neuronal homeostasis since both its absence and, more relevantly, its overexpression induce higher sensitivity to kainate (KA) damage. These data correlate with electrophysiological results in freely behaving mutant mice showing an imbalance in activity-dependent synaptic processes, as determined from input/output curves, paired-pulse facilitation, and LTP studies. Gene expression profiling showed that 129 genes involved in canonical pathways such as Ubiquitination or Neurotransmission among others were co-regulated in knockout and PrPc overexpressing mice. RT-qPCR analysis of neurotransmission-related genes confirmed GABA-A and AMPA-Kainate receptor subunit transcriptional co-regulation in both Prnp -/- and Tg20 mice. Our results demonstrate that PrPc is necessary for the proper homeostatic functioning of hippocampal circuits, because of its interactions with GABAA and AMPA-Kainate receptors.

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Rangel A, Madroñal N, Gruart A, Gavín R, Llorens F, Sumoy L, Torres JM, Delgado-García JM, Del Río JA