The crucial role that hippocampus Cyclooxygenase‐2 plays in memory

Abstract

It is generally accepted that Cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) is activated to cause inflammation. However, COX‐2 is also constitutively expressed at the postsynaptic dendrites and excitatory terminals of the cortical and spinal cord neurons. Although some evidence suggests that COX‐2 release during neuronal signalling may be pivotal for regulating the function of memory, the significance of constitutively expressed COX‐2 in neuron is still unclear. This research aims to discover the role of COX‐2 in memory beyond neuroinflammation and to determine whether the inhibition of COX‐2 can cause cognitive dysfunction by influencing dendritic plasticity and its underlying mechanism. We found COX‐2 gene knockout (KO) could significantly impact the learning and memory ability, cause neuronal structure disorder and influence gamma oscillations. These might be mediated by the inhibition of prostaglandin (PG) E2/cAMP pathway and phosphorylated protein kinase A (p‐PKA)‐phosphorylated cAMP response element binding protein (p‐CREB)‐brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) axis. It suggested COX‐2 might play a critical role in learning, regulating neuronal structure and gamma oscillations in the hippocampus CA1 by regulating COX‐2/BDNF signalling pathway.