Spatial learning is unimpaired in mice containing a deletion of the alpha-synuclein locus

Alpha-synuclein belongs to a family of structurally related proteins expressed highly in the brain and is the major component of filamentous deposits present in a range of neurodegenerative diseases (synucleinopathies). It has been implicated in learning and memory, yet the physiological role of this protein is still unclear. It was recently found that a subpopulation of C57BL/6J mice carries a chromosomal deletion of the alpha-synuclein locus, often unknown to the experimenter. As genetically engineered mice are often backcrossed with C57BL/6J animals for learning and memory experiments, we studied the importance of alpha-synuclein in spatial learning tasks by examining the performance of alpha-synuclein-/- mice in the hidden platform reference memory version of the watermaze. Our data show that alpha-synuclein-/- mice had no significant impairment in performance during training or probe trials, compared with wild-type littermates. Therefore, we conclude that alpha-synuclein is not essential for this type of spatial learning.