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Updated: Dec 24, 2025

Immunohistochemical Visualization of Hippocampal Neuron Activity After Spatial Learning in a Mouse Model of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published on: May 12, 2015
Forebrain excitatory neuron-specific SENP2 knockout mouse displays hyperactivity, impaired learning and memory, and
Dehua Huang1, Huiqing Liu1, Aoxue Zhu1
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Cell Biology, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Tumor Microenvironment and Inflammation, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 280 South Chongqing Road, Shanghai, 200025, China.
Abstract:
Sentrin/SUMO-specific protease 2 (SENP2) is a member of SENPs family involved in maturation of SUMO precursors and deSUMOylation of specific target, and is highly expressed in the central nervous system (CNS). Although SENP2 has been shown to modulate embryonic development, fatty acid metabolism, atherosclerosis and epilepsy, the function of SENP2 in the CNS remains poorly understood. To address the role of SENP2 in the CNS and its potential involvement in neuropathology, we generated SENP2 conditional knockout mice by crossing floxed SENP2 mice with CaMKIIα-Cre transgenic mice. Behavioral tests revealed that SENP2 ablation induced hyper-locomotor activity, anxiolytic-like behaviors, spatial working memory impairment and fear-associated learning defect. In line with these observations, our RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data identified a variety of differential expression genes that are particularly enriched in locomotion, learning and memory related biologic process. Taken together, our results indicated that SENP2 plays a critical role in emotional and cognitive regulation. This SENP2 conditional knockout mice model may help reveal novel mechanisms that underlie a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders associated with anxiety and cognition.

