Short report
Roles of CREB in the regulation of FMRP by group I metabotropic glutamate receptors in cingulate cortex
1 Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
2 Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, 156-8502, Japan
3 Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Centro Investigaciones Biomedicas En Red-NEuroDegenerativas, E-28049, Madrid, Spain
4 Center for Neuron and Disease, Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
5 Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, 1 King’s College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
Molecular Brain 2012, 5:27 doi:10.1186/1756-6606-5-27
Published: 6 August 2012Abstract
Background
Fragile X syndrome is caused by lack of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) due to silencing of the FMR1 gene. The metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) in the central nervous system contribute to higher brain functions including learning/memory, mental disorders and persistent pain. The transcription factor cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB) is involved in important neuronal functions, such as synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. Our recent study has shown that stimulation of Group I mGluRs upregulated FMRP and activated CREB in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a key region for brain cognitive and executive functions, suggesting that activation of Group I mGluRs may upregulate FMRP through CREB signaling pathway.
Results
In this study, we demonstrate that CREB contributes to the regulation of FMRP by Group I mGluRs. In ACC neurons of adult mice overexpressing dominant active CREB mutant, the upregulation of FMRP by stimulating Group I mGluR is enhanced compared to wild-type mice. However, the regulation of FMRP by Group I mGluRs is not altered by overexpression of Ca2+-insensitive mutant form of downstream regulatory element antagonist modulator (DREAM), a transcriptional repressor involved in synaptic transmission and plasticity.
Conclusion
Our study has provided further evidence for CREB involvement in regulation of FMRP by Group I mGluRs in ACC neurons, and may help to elucidate the pathogenesis of fragile X syndrome.
