GIT1 regulates synaptic structural plasticity underlying learning

PLoS One. 2018 Mar 19;13(3):e0194350. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194350. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The signaling scaffold protein GIT1 is expressed widely throughout the brain, but its function in vivo remains elusive. Mice lacking GIT1 have been proposed as a model for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, due to alterations in basal locomotor activity as well as paradoxical locomotor suppression by the psychostimulant amphetamine. Since we had previously shown that GIT1-knockout mice have normal locomotor activity, here we examined GIT1-deficient mice for ADHD-like behavior in more detail, and find neither hyperactivity nor amphetamine-induced locomotor suppression. Instead, GIT1-deficient mice exhibit profound learning and memory defects and reduced synaptic structural plasticity, consistent with an intellectual disability phenotype. We conclude that loss of GIT1 alone is insufficient to drive a robust ADHD phenotype in distinct strains of mice. In contrast, multiple learning and memory defects have been observed here and in other studies using distinct GIT1-knockout lines, consistent with a predominant intellectual disability phenotype related to altered synaptic structural plasticity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Cycle Proteins / deficiency*
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • GTPase-Activating Proteins / deficiency*
  • Learning Disabilities / genetics
  • Learning Disabilities / metabolism
  • Learning Disabilities / physiopathology*
  • Maze Learning
  • Memory Disorders / genetics
  • Memory Disorders / metabolism
  • Memory Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Mice
  • Neuronal Plasticity*
  • Signal Transduction

Substances

  • Cell Cycle Proteins
  • GTPase-Activating Proteins
  • Git1 protein, mouse