期刊名称:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN:0027-8424
电子版ISSN:1091-6490
出版年度:2009
卷号:106
期号:47
页码:20039-20044
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0908840106
语种:English
出版社:The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要:Fast synaptic inhibition in the brain is largely mediated by {gamma}-aminobutyric acid receptors (GABAAR). While the pharmacological manipulation of GABAAR function by therapeutic agents, such as benzodiazepines can have profound effects on neuronal excitation and behavior, the endogenous mechanisms neurons use to regulate the efficacy of synaptic inhibition and their impact on behavior remains poorly understood. To address this issue, we created a knock-in mouse in which tyrosine phosphorylation of the GABAARs {gamma}2 subunit, a posttranslational modification that is critical for their functional modulation, has been ablated. These animals exhibited enhanced GABAAR accumulation at postsynaptic inhibitory synaptic specializations on pyramidal neurons within the CA3 subdomain of the hippocampus, primarily due to aberrant trafficking within the endocytic pathway. This enhanced inhibition correlated with a specific deficit in spatial object recognition, a behavioral paradigm dependent upon CA3. Thus, phospho-dependent regulation of GABAAR function involving just two tyrosine residues in the {gamma}2 subunit provides an input-specific mechanism that not only regulates the efficacy of synaptic inhibition, but has behavioral consequences.