IL-4R alpha deficiency influences hippocampal-BDNF signaling pathway to impair reference memory

Division of Immunology and ICGEB researchers Dr Tiroyaone M Brombacher, (PhD) Inssaf Berkiks, (PhD) Shandre Pillay, (MSc) Martyna Scibiorek, (MSc) Blessing O. Moses (BSc) and Professor Frank Brombacher (PhD), recently authored a paper in Scientific Reports. The paper published in October 2020 is entitled “IL-4R alpha deficiency influences hippocampal-BDNF signaling pathway to impair reference memory”.

The International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) researchers used the Morris water maze spatial task for cognition, and “compared interleukin-4 receptor alpha- deficient mice and their ligands interleukin-4/ interleukin-13 double deficient mice” showing that while double deficient mice have both impaired learning and reference memory,  interleukin-4 receptor alpha-deficiency impairs only reference memory compared to wild-type control mice.

Dr Brombacher and her colleagues demonstrate that “interleukin-4 receptor alpha-deficiency disrupts activation of BDNF/TrkB- and ARC-signaling pathways during reference memory, while the pathway for spatial learning is spared” leading to successful learning but disrupted reference memory.

Read the paper - IL-4R alpha deficiency influences hippocampal-BDNF signaling pathway to impair reference memory

Article by Bonamy Holtak