Abstract
Cognitive deficits are among the most devastating changes associated with the aging process. Age-related decrement in performance on learning tasks1,2 is correlated with substantial changes in neuronal signal processing in the hippocampus3,4,5. Here we show that elevated expression of small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels (SK channels) of the SK3 type in hippocampi of aged mice contributes to reduced long-term potentiation (LTP) and impaired trace fear conditioning, a hippocampus-dependent learning task6,7.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Max Planck Society. We thank Dr. John Disterhoft for fruitful discussions and his generous support in obtaining the animals for this study.
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Blank, T., Nijholt, I., Kye, MJ. et al. Small-conductance, Ca2+-activated K+ channel SK3 generates age-related memory and LTP deficits. Nat Neurosci 6, 911–912 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1101
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1101
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