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Small-conductance, Ca2+-activated K+ channel SK3 generates age-related memory and LTP deficits
Thomas Blank1, Ingrid Nijholt, Min-Jeong Kye
1Department of Molecular Neuroendocrinology, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, D-37075 Goettingen, Germany.
Nature Neuroscience
|July 29, 2003
Abstract:
Cognitive deficits are among the most devastating changes associated with the aging process. Age-related decrement in performance on learning tasks is correlated with substantial changes in neuronal signal processing in the hippocampus. Here we show that elevated expression of small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (SK channels) of the SK3 type in hippocampi of aged mice contributes to reduced long-term potentiation (LTP) and impaired trace fear conditioning, a hippocampus-dependent learning task.