LONG-TERM POTENTIATION IN MICE LACKING SYNAPSINS

Synapsin I and synapsin II are widely expressed synaptic vesicle phosphoproteins that have been proposed to play an important role in synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity. To gain further insight into the functional significance of the phosphorylation sites on the synapsins, we have examined a-number of synaptic processes thought to be mediated by protein kinases in knockout mice lacking both forms of synapsin (Rosahl et al., 1995). Long-term potentiation (LTP) at both the messy fiber (MF)-CA3 pyramidal cell synapse and the Schaffer collateral-CA1 pyramidal cell synapse appears normal in hippocampal slices prepared from mice lacking synapsins. Moreover, the effects on synaptic transmission of forskolin at MF synapses and H-7 at synapses on CA1 cells are also normal in the mutant mice. These results indicate that the synapsins are not necessary for: (1) the induction or expression of two different forms of LTP in the hippocampus, (2) the enhancement in transmitter release elicited by activation of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and (3) the depression of synaptic transmission caused by H-7. Although disappointing, these results are important in that they exclude the most abundant family of synaptic phosphoproteins as an essential component of long-term synaptic plasticity.