Pharmacotherapy for Cognitive Impairment in a Mouse Model of Down Syndrome
Nature and NeuroScience 

February 25, 2007

Fabian Fernandez, Wade Morishita, Elizabeth Zuniga, James Nguyen, Martina Blank, Robert C Malenka & Craig C Garner

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Nancy Pritzker Laboratory, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94304-5485, USA

Ts65Dn mice, a model for Down syndrome, have excessive inhibition in the dentate gyrus, a condition that could compromise synaptic plasticity and mnemonic processing. We show that chronic systemic treatment of these mice with GABAA antagonists at non-epileptic doses causes a persistent post-drug recovery of cognition and long-term potentiation. These results suggest that over-inhibition contributes to intellectual disabilities associated with Down syndrome and that GABAA antagonists may be useful therapeutic agents for this disorder.

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