Start date should be earlier than end date. OK Please enter valid date format.

Focused Review ARTICLE

Connexin43 and Bergmann glial gap junctions in cerebellar function

Mika Tanaka^1*, Kazuhiko Yamaguchi¹, Tetsuya Tatsukawa¹, Martin Theis^2,3, Klaus Willecke³ and Shigeyoshi Itohara ^1*

RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), Japan

Institute for Genetics, University of Bonn, Germany

Institute of Cellular Neurosciences, University of Bonn, Germany

Connexin43 (Cx43), a major component of astrocytic gap junctions, is abundantly expressed in Bergmann glial cells (BGCs) in the cerebellum, but the function of Cx43 in BGCs is largely unknown. BGCs are specialized astrocytes closely associated with Purkinje cells. Here, we review our recent studies of the role of Cx43 in gap junctional coupling between BGCs and in cerebellar function. We generated Cx43 conditional knockout mice with an S100b-Cre transgenic line (Cx43^fl/fl:S100b-Cre), in which there was a significant postnatal loss of Cx43 in BGCs and cerebellar astrocytes. Gap junctional coupling between BGCs measured by dye coupling was virtually abolished in Cx43^fl/fl:S100b-Cre mice. Electrophysiologic and behavioral analyses suggested that Cx43-mediated gap junctions and Cx43 hemichannels in BGCs are not necessary for the neuron-glia interactions required for cerebellum-dependent motor coordination and motor learning. These findings raise questions regarding the regional differences in the impact of the loss of Cx43 in the brain.

Keywords:

connexin43, gap junction, astrocyte, Bergmann glia, conditional knockout mouse

Citation:

Tanaka M, Yamaguchi K, Tatsukawa T, Theis M, Willecke K and Itohara S (2008). Connexin43 and Bergmann glial gap junctions in cerebellar function. Front. Neurosci. 2,2:225- 233. doi: 10.3389/neuro.01.038.2008

Received:

18 September 2008;

Paper pending published:

10 November 2008;

Accepted:

10 November 2008;

Published online:

15 December 2008.

Edited by:

Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Reviewed by:

Jeansok J. Kim, University of Washington, USA
Annette Koulakoff, INSERM U114, France

© 2008 Tanaka, Yamaguchi, Tatsukawa, Theis, Willecke and Itohara. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Mika Tanaka, Lab. for Behavioral Genetics, RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. e-mail: mikatanaka@brain.riken.jp;
Shigeyoshi Itohara, Lab. for Behavioral Genetics, RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan. e-mail: sitohara@brain.riken.jp