Brief Communication abstract


Nature Neuroscience 11, 741 - 743 (2008)
Published online: 30 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/nn.2127

Critical role of TRPC6 channels in the formation of excitatory synapses

Jian Zhou1,2,3, Wanlu Du1,2,3, Kechun Zhou1,2, Yilin Tai1,2, Hailan Yao1,2, Yichang Jia1,2, Yuqiang Ding1 & Yizheng Wang1

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The transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC) channels are Ca2+-permeable, nonselective cation channels with different biological functions, but their roles in brain are largely unknown. Here we report that TRPC6 was localized to excitatory synapses and promoted their formation via a CaMKIV-CREB–dependent pathway. TRPC6 transgenic mice showed enhancement in spine formation, and spatial learning and memory in Morris water maze. These results reveal a previously unknown role of TRPC6 in synaptic and behavioral plasticity.

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  1. Laboratory of Neural Signal Transduction, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes of Biological Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai 200031, China.
  2. The Graduate School, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai 200031, China.
  3. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Yizheng Wang1 e-mail: yzwang@ion.ac.cn



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