E. Thiels et al., Impairment of long-term potentiation and associative memory in mice that overexpress extracellular superoxide dismutase, J NEUROSC, 20(20), 2000, pp. 7631-7639
Reactive oxygen species, including superoxide, generally are considered neu
rotoxic molecules whose effects can be alleviated by antioxidants. Differen
t from this view, we show that scavenging of superoxide with an antioxidant
enzyme is associated with deficits in hippocampal long-term potentiation (
LTP), a putative neural substrate of memory, and hippocampal-mediated memor
y function. Using transgenic mice that overexpress extracellular superoxide
dismutase (EC-SOD), a superoxide scavenger, we found that LTP was impaired
in hippocampal area CA1 despite normal LTP in area CA3. The LTP impairment
in area CA1 could be reversed by inhibition of EC-SOD. In addition, we fou
nd that EC-SOD transgenic mice exhibited impaired long-term memory of fear
conditioning to contextual cues despite exhibiting normal short-term memory
of the conditioning experience. These findings strongly suggest that super
oxide, rather than being considered exclusively a neurotoxic molecule, shou
ld also be considered a signaling molecule necessary for normal neuronal fu
nction.