The Crucial Role of Hippocampus Cyclooxygenase-2 Plays in Synaptic
Plasticity and Memory
Abstract
It is generally accepted that Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is activated to
cause inflammation. However, COX-2 is also constitutively expressed at
the postsynaptic dendrites and excitatory terminals of the cortical and
spinal cord neurons. Although some evidence suggests that COX-2 release
during neuronal signaling may be pivotal for regulating the function of
memory, the significance of constitutively expressed COX-2 in neuron is
still unclear. This research aims to discover the role of COX-2 in
memory beyond neuroinflammation and to determine whether the inhibition
of COX-2 can cause cognitive dysfunction by influencing dendritic
plasticity and its underlying mechanism. The cognitive ability was
assessed by novel object recognition task (NORT) and Morris water maze
(MWM) test. Immunofluorescence, Golgi-cox staining were used to observe
dendritic synaptic. Gamma oscillation in hippocampus CA1 was performed
by Tetrode in-vivo recording. Prostaglandins were measured by HPLC/mass
spectrometry. We observed the expressions of cyclic adenosine
monophosphate (cAMP)/ brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) pathway
proteins in hippocampus and N2a cells by Elisa and western blot. We
found COX-2 gene knockout (KO) could significantly impact the learning
and memory ability; reduce the expression of postsynaptic density
protein 95 (PSD95) in the neuron; cause synaptic disorder; influence
gamma oscillation and reduce the expression prostaglandin (PG) E2, cAMP,
phosphorylated protein kinase A (p-PKA), phosphorylated cAMP response
element binding protein (p-CREB) and BDNF in the hippocampus. It
suggested COX-2 might play a critical role in learning, regulating
synaptic plasticity and gamma oscillation in the hippocampus CA1 by
regulating COX-2/BDNF signaling pathway.