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Updated: Mar 24, 2026
Immunohistochemical Visualization of Hippocampal Neuron Activity After Spatial Learning in a Mouse Model of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published on: May 12, 2015
Specific cytoarchitectureal changes in hippocampal subareas in daDREAM mice
Britt Mellström1,2, Asta Kastanauskaite3,4,5, Shira Knafo6,7
1Spanish Network for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, CIBERNED, Madrid, Spain. bmellstr@cnb.csic.es.
Background:
Transcriptional repressor DREAM (downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator) is a Ca(2+)-binding protein that regulates Ca(2+) homeostasis through gene regulation and protein-protein interactions. It has been shown that a dominant active form (daDREAM) is implicated in learning-related synaptic plasticity such as LTP and LTD in the hippocampus. Neuronal spines are reported to play important roles in plasticity and memory. However, the possible role of DREAM in spine plasticity has not been reported.
Results:
Here we show that potentiating DREAM activity, by overexpressing daDREAM, reduced dendritic basal arborization and spine density in CA1 pyramidal neurons and increased spine density in dendrites in dentate gyrus granule cells. These microanatomical changes are accompanied by significant modifications in the expression of specific genes encoding the cytoskeletal proteins Arc, Formin 1 and Gelsolin in daDREAM hippocampus.
Conclusions:
Our results strongly suggest that DREAM plays an important role in structural plasticity in the hippocampus.
