Synthesis And Secretion And Dendritic Spine Morphology

Calcium controls many neuronal functions, such as neurotransmitter synthesis and secretion and dendritic spine morphology. The role of CaMKKÃŽ ² is probably best characterised in the brain. CaMKKÃŽ ² and CaMKKÃŽ ± are both highly expressed in the brain (Anderson et al. 1996), and have been shown to be important in the formation of memory and neuronal plasticity (Wayman et al. 2008). In addition, studies show the CaMK cascade is essential for axon and dendrite elongation in cortical neurons (Ageta-Ishihara et al. 2009; Davare et al. 2009), as well as synaptogenesis in hippocampal neurons (Saneyoshi et al. 2008). The CaMK cascade is known to regulate cAMP response-element binding protein (CREB) dependent transcriptional activity in vivo, which is important for hippocampal long term memory formation (Lonze and Ginty. 2002). Global CaMKKÃŽ ²-/- mice generated by Peters et al were found to have male specific impaired spatial memory formation secondary to reduced spatial-training induced CREB activation, as well as impaired long term memory for the social transmission of food preferences secondary to the lack of late long term potentiation at the hippocampal area CA1 synapses (Peters et al. 2003; Mizuno et al. 2007). No difference was found in other types of hippocampus dependent long term memory, including contextual fear memory and passive avoidance, compared to wild-type mice suggesting that the formation of these long term memory types do not require the activation of CREB by CaMKKÃŽ ².