NORMAL SPATIAL-LEARNING DESPITE REGIONAL INHIBITION OF LTP IN MICE LACKING THY-1

The process of learning involves stable changes in synaptic efficacy f or which long-term potentiation (LTP)(1) provides a widely adopted mam malian model. Synaptic modification induced by learning or LTP may inv olve the action of cell adhesion molecules(2-4). One such candidate is the ubiquitous neuronal glycoprotein Thy-1 (refs 5, 6). In mice in wh ich the gene encoding Thy-1 has been inactivated, we find a regionally selective impairment of LTP in vivo in the hippocampal formation: LTP is normal in area CA1 but strongly inhibited in the dentate gyrus. Sp atial learning by Thy-1-deficient mice, as assessed in the watermaze(7 ), is unimpaired. Thus LTP in the cortical input to the dentate gyrus seems not to be required for spatial learning.