BDNF in Learning and Memory
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in various aspects of learning and memory. The DNA for BDNF contains nine different regulatory sites, each of which is involved in different aspects of learning. Researcher Keri Martinovich studied each site by selectively knocking each one out with a genetic manipulation. She found that blocking the e1 site increased acquisition of new learning and recall in mice, while e2 did the opposite. Blockade of e4 had no effect on these memory functions but markedly blocked the process of extinction, which involves a different kind of new learning.
A mouse that learned to associate a particular cue with a shock (a process known as conditioned fear) will stop reacting to the cue after it is presented many times without a shock. This learning that the cue is no longer associated with the shock is referred to as extinction. The animals with e4 blocked in their BDNF did not develop the new extinction learning, and continued to react to the cue as if it were still associated with the shock.
Editor’s Note: These data may have clinical relevance for humans. The anticonvulsant valproate (trade name Depakote), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, selectively increases the e4 promoter site of BDNF and facilitates extinction of conditioned fear, according to research by Tim Bredy et al. published in 2010.
Clinical trails should examine whether valproate could enhance fear extinction in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
