Depletion of primary cilia from mature dentate granule cells impairs hippocampus-dependent contextual memory

The primary cilium, a sensory organelle, regulates cell proliferation and neuronal development of dentate granule cells in the hippocampus. However, its role in the function of mature dentate granule cells remains unknown. Here we specifically depleted and disrupted ciliary proteins IFT20 and Kif3A (respectively) in mature dentate granule cells and investigated hippocampus-dependent contextual memory and long-term plasticity at mossy fiber synapses. We found that depletion of IFT20 in these cells significantly impaired context-dependent fear-related memory. Furthermore, we tested synaptic plasticity of mossy fiber synapses in area CA3 and found increased long-term potentiation upon depletion of IFT20 or disruption of Kif3A. Our findings suggest a role of primary cilia in the memory function of mature dentate granule cells, which may result from abnormal mossy fiber synaptic plasticity. A direct link between the primary cilia of mature dentate granule cells and behavior will require further investigation using independent approaches to manipulate primary cilia.