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Long-term potentiation (LTP) was monitored from the CA1 region of the intact rat hippocampus by delivering high frequency stimulation (HFS) to the Schaffer collateral commissural pathway. Intraventricular injection with mutant amyloid beta(1-42) peptide lacking glutamate-22 (Abeta(1-42)E22Delta), favoring oligomerization, 10 min prior to HFS, inhibited expression of LTP, with the potency more than wild-type amyloid beta(1-42) peptide. Intraperitoneal injection with the linoleic acid derivative 8-[2-(2-pentyl-cyclopropylmethyl)-cyclopropyl]-octanoic acid (DCP-LA) 70 min prior to HFS neutralized mutant Abeta(1-42)E22Delta peptide-induced LTP inhibition. In the water maze test, continuous intraventricular injection with mutant Abeta(1-42)E22Delta peptide for 14 days prolonged the acquisition latency as compared with that for control, with the potency similar to wild-type Abeta(1-42) peptide, and intraperitoneal injection with DCP-LA shortened the prolonged latency to control levels. The results of the present study indicate that DCP-LA neutralizes mutant Abeta(1-42)E22Delta peptide-induced impairment of LTP and spatial learning.

The present study examined the effects of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-18 (IL-18) on mouse hippocampal synaptic transmission. IL-18 (100 ng/ml) significantly increased amplitude and frequency of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor-mediated miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (AMPA–mEPSCs), that are monitored from CA1 pyramidal neurons of mouse hippocampal slices. IL-18 (100 ng/ml) enhanced slope of basal field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) that are recorded from the CA1 region of mouse hippocampal slices. There was no significant difference in the expression of Schaffer collateral/CA1 long-term potentiation (LTP) between in the presence and absence of IL-18, although IL-18 tended to inhibit saturation levels of the potentiation induced by tetanic stimulation in a dose-dependent manner at concentrations ranged from 10 ng/ml to 1 μg/ml. Paired-pulse facilitation in the presence of IL-18 (100 ng/ml) was not influenced after tetanic stimulation, while that in the absence of IL-18 was depressed. The results of the present study, thus, suggest that IL-18 stimulates synaptically released glutamate and enhances postsynaptic AMPA receptor responses in CA1 pyramidal neurons of mouse hippocampal slices, thereby facilitating basal hippocampal synaptic transmission without affecting the LTP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In a whole-cell patch-clamp configuration, currents through N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptor channels were monitored in cultured rat hippocampal neurons, and those currents were depressed to 25 and 28% of basal levels, respectively, by 3-min treatment with tunicamycin (10 μM), an inhibitor of protein N-glycosylation. Tunicamycin (10 μM) reduced amplitude of population spikes elicited in the dentate gyrus of rat hippocampal slices, reaching 78% of basal levels 60 min after the beginning of treatment, and long-term potentiation (LTP) of the perforant path was never induced in the presence of tunicamycin. Tunicamycin, thus, appears to serve as a modulator for NMDA and AMPA receptors, regardless of N-glycosylation, thereby inhibiting neurotransmission and LTP in the dentate gyrus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]