Vitamin A deficiency and relational memory deficit in adult mice: relationships with changes in brain retinoid signalling.

Vitamin A and its derivatives, the retinoids, have recently been reported to be implicated in the synaptic plasticity of the hippocampus and in cognitive functions. Acting via transcription factors, retinoids can regulate gene expression via their nuclear receptors [retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs)]. We recently showed that a moderate (about 30%) hypoexpression of brain (and hippocampal) retinoid signalling, like that naturally occurring in the aged brain of mice, might be related to a selective relational memory deficit. To further assess this hypothesis, the present study investigated the effects of Vitamin A deprivation of varying duration both on the brain expression of retinoid receptors (RARbeta and RXRbeta/gamma) and two associated target genes [tissue-type transglutaminase (tTG) and neurogranin, (RC3)], and on radial maze discrimination learning using young adult mice as subjects. We observed that irrespective of its duration (i.e. 31 or 39 weeks), Vitamin A deprivation resulted in a significant reduction (25-30%) in the expression of brain RARbeta, RXRbeta/gamma and tTG mRNAs. Conversely, only the 39-week condition was found to induce a significant decrease in brain RC3 mRNAs contents and a selective relational memory impairment. Finally, daily administration of retinoic acid (RA) failed to reverse the 39-week Vitamin A deficiency (VAD)-related cognitive deficit and to fully normalise the associated brain retinoid hyposignalling. In particular, there was no evidence for an up-regulating effect of RA on whole brain (and hippocampal) RC3 mRNAs of the 39-week-depleted mice. The results show that post-natal VAD may induce a selective memory impairment and give further support to the hypothesis that the fine regulation of retinoid-mediated gene expression is important for optimal brain functioning and higher cognition.