No abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death for persons under the age of 45. Military service members who have served on multiple combat deployments and contact-sport athletes are at particular risk of sustaining repetitive TBI (rTBI). Cognitive and behavioral deficits resulting from rTBI are well documented. Optimal associative LTP, occurring in the CA1 hippocampal Schaffer collateral pathway, is required for both memory formation and retrieval. Surprisingly, ipsilateral Schaffer collateral CA1 LTP evoked by 100 Hz tetanus was enhanced in mice from the 3× closed head injury (3× CHI) treatment group in comparison to LTP in contralateral or 3× Sham CA1 area, and in spite of reduced freezing during contextual fear conditioning at one week following 3× CHI. Electrophysiological activity of CA1 neurons was evaluated with whole-cell patch-clamp recordings. 3× CHI ipsilateral CA1 neurons exhibited significant increases in action potential amplitude and maximum rise and decay slope while the action potential duration was decreased. Recordings of CA1 neuron postsynaptic currents were conducted to detect spontaneous excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs/sIPSCs) and respective miniature currents (mEPSCs and mIPSCs). In the 3× CHI mice, sEPSCs and sIPSCs in ipsilateral CA1 neurons had an increased frequency of events but decreased amplitudes. In addition, 3× CHI altered the action potential-independent miniature postsynaptic currents. The mEPSCs of ipsilateral CA1 neurons exhibited both an increased frequency of events and larger amplitudes. Moreover, the effect of 3× CHI on mIPSCs was opposite to that of the sIPSCs. Specifically, the frequency of the mIPSCs was decreased while the amplitudes were increased. These results are consistent with a mechanism in which repetitive closed-head injury affects CA1 hippocampal function by promoting a remodeling of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs leading to impairment in hippocampal-dependent tasks.

Down syndrome (DS; trisomy 21) is one of the most common genetic causes of intellectual disability, which is attributed to triplication of genes located on chromosome 21. Elevated levels of several microRNAs (miRNAs) located on chromosome 21 have been reported in human DS heart and brain tissues. The Ts65Dn mouse model is the most investigated DS model with a triplicated segment of mouse chromosome 16 harboring genes orthologous to those on human chromosome 21. Using ABI TaqMan miRNA arrays, we found a set of miRNAs that were significantly up- or downregulated in the Ts65Dn hippocampus compared to euploid controls. Furthermore, miR-155 and miR-802 showed significant overexpression in the Ts65Dn hippocampus, thereby confirming results of previous studies. Interestingly, miR-155 and miR-802 were also overexpressed in the Ts65Dn whole blood but not in lung tissue. We also found overexpression of the miR-155 precursors, pri- and pre-miR-155 derived from the miR-155 host gene, known as B cell integration cluster, suggesting enhanced biogenesis of miR-155. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that neurodevelopment, differentiation of neuroglia, apoptosis, cell cycle, and signaling pathways including ERK/MAPK, protein kinase C, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, m-TOR and calcium signaling are likely targets of these miRNAs. We selected some of these potential gene targets and found downregulation of mRNA encoding Ship1, Mecp2 and Ezh2 in Ts65Dn hippocampus. Interestingly, the miR-155 target gene Ship1 (inositol phosphatase) was also downregulated in Ts65Dn whole blood but not in lung tissue. Our findings provide insights into miRNA-mediated gene regulation in Ts65Dn mice and their potential contribution to impaired hippocampal synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis, as well as hemopoietic abnormalities observed in DS.