Estradiol improves cerebellar memory formation by activating estrogen receptor beta. - Archive ouverte HAL Access content directly
Journal Articles Journal of Neuroscience Year : 2007

Estradiol improves cerebellar memory formation by activating estrogen receptor beta.

Corina E Andreescu
  • Function : Author
Bogdan A Milojkovic
  • Function : Author
Elize D Haasdijk
  • Function : Author
Piet Kramer
  • Function : Author
Frank H de Jong
  • Function : Author
Chris I de Zeeuw
  • Function : Author
Marcel T G de Jeu
  • Function : Author

Abstract

Learning motor skills is critical for motor abilities such as driving a car or playing piano. The speed at which we learn those skills is subject to many factors. Yet, it is not known to what extent gonadal hormones can affect the achievement of accurate movements in time and space. Here we demonstrate via different lines of evidence that estradiol promotes plasticity in the cerebellar cortex underlying motor learning. First, we show that estradiol enhances induction of long-term potentiation at the parallel fiber to Purkinje cell synapse, whereas it does not affect long-term depression; second, we show that estradiol activation of estrogen receptor beta receptors in Purkinje cells significantly improves gain-decrease adaptation of the vestibulo-ocular reflex, whereas it does not affect general eye movement performance; and third, we show that estradiol increases the density of parallel fiber to Purkinje cell synapses, whereas it does not affect the density of climbing fiber synapses. We conclude that estradiol can improve motor skills by potentiating cerebellar plasticity and synapse formation. These processes may be advantageous during periods of high estradiol levels of the estrous cycle or pregnancy.

Dates and versions

hal-00207390 , version 1 (17-01-2008)

Identifiers

Cite

Corina E Andreescu, Bogdan A Milojkovic, Elize D Haasdijk, Piet Kramer, Frank H de Jong, et al.. Estradiol improves cerebellar memory formation by activating estrogen receptor beta.. Journal of Neuroscience, 2007, 27 (40), pp.10832-9. ⟨10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2588-07.2007⟩. ⟨hal-00207390⟩
27 View
0 Download

Altmetric

Share

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More