[Background]
  Cognitive impairment includes dysfunction of learning and memory. Many studies by various kind of experiments have clarified that the hippocampus plays an important role in cognitive function. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is considered one of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory.
Shati / Nat8l is localized in neuronal cells and is ubiquitously present throughout a brain. The hippocampus contains many nerve cells, and highly expresses Shati / Nat8l. In this study, behavioral and electrophysiological experiments were conducted to clarify the roles of hippocampal Shati / Nat8l on cognitive memory.
[Methods]
We generated hippocampal Shati/Nat8l conditional knockdown mice (Shati cKD group) using Cre-loxP system. Two behavioral experiments were performed, novel object recognition test and Y-maze test, to evaluate cognitive function by using Shati cKD mice. We also did electrophysiological experiment to measuring LTP in hippocampal CA1 region.
[Results]
The expression of Shati/Nat8l level in the hippocampus of Shati cKD was significantly reduced compared to Mock group. In the behavioral experiments, Shati cKD showed a significant decrease in cognitive function in the novel object recognition test and Y-maze test, respectively, compared to Mock group. Furthermore, Shati cKD showed a significant decrease in LTP compared to Mock group in the electrophysiological experiment.
[Discussion]
  As a decrease in LTP was observed, hippocampal Shati/Nat8l might be involved in the cellular and molecular mechanisms of memory formation.