CaMKII Isoforms in Learning and Memory: Localization and Function

Gisela Zalcman; Noel Federman; Arturo Romano

doi:10.3389/fnmol.2018.00445

CaMKII Isoforms in Learning and Memory: Localization and Function

Front Mol Neurosci. 2018 Dec 4:11:445. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00445. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Gisela Zalcman^{1

2}, Noel Federman^{1

2}, Arturo Romano^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias, Universidad de Buenos Aires - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
² Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a key protein kinase in neural plasticity and memory, as have been shown in several studies since the first evidence in long-term potentiation (LTP) 30 years ago. However, most of the studies were focused mainly in one of the four isoforms of this protein kinase, the CaMKIIα. Here we review the characteristics and the role of each of the four isoforms in learning, memory and neural plasticity, considering the well known local role of α and β isoforms in dendritic terminals as well as recent findings about the γ isoform as calcium signals transducers from synapse to nucleus and δ isoform as a kinase required for a more persistent memory trace.

Keywords: CaMKII; CaMKIIα; CaMKIIβ; CaMKIIγ; CaMKIIδ; learning; memory.

Publication types

Review