Conditional deletion of Mecp2 in parvalbumin-expressing GABAergic cells results in the absence of critical period plasticity

Ling-jie He, Nan Liu, Tian-lin Cheng, Xiao-jing Chen, Yi-ding Li, You-sheng Shu, Zi-long Qiu and Xiao-hui Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Ling-jie He: Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nan Liu: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University
Tian-lin Cheng: Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiao-jing Chen: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University
Yi-ding Li: Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
You-sheng Shu: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University
Zi-long Qiu: Institute of Neuroscience and State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiao-hui Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Mutations in the X-linked gene encoding the transcriptional modulator methyl–CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) impair postnatal development of the brain. Here we use neuronal-type specific gene deletion in mice to show that conditional Mecp2 deletion in GABAergic parvalbumin-expressing (PV) cells (PV-Mecp2−/y) does not cause most Rett-syndrome-like behaviours, but completely abolishes experience-dependent critical period plasticity of primary visual cortex (V1) that develops normal visual functions. However, selective loss of Mecp2 in GABAergic somatostatin-expressing cells or glutamatergic pyramidal cells does not affect the critical period plasticity. MeCP2-deficient PV cells exhibit high intrinsic excitability, selectively reduced efficacy of recurrent excitatory synapses in V1 layer 4 circuits, and decreased evoked visual responses in vivo. Enhancing cortical gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibition with diazepam infusion can restore critical period plasticity in both young and adult PV-Mecp2−/y mice. Thus, MeCP2 expression in inhibitory PV cells during the critical period is essential for local circuit functions underlying experience-dependent cortical plasticity.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6036 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6036

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6036

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().