ArticlePloS one2012
Npas4: a neuronal transcription factor with a key role in social and cognitive functions relevant to developmental disorders.
Article in PloS one, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers.
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Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 121 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Memory-Associated Immediate Early Genes: Roles in Synaptic Function, Memory Processes, and Neurological Diseases.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Review
- Combinative Protein Expression of Immediate Early Genes c-Fos, Arc, and Npas4 Along Aversive and Appetitive Experience-Related Neural Networks.Hippocampus · 2025Article
- NPAS4 Depletion in POMC Neurons Protects From Obesity and Alters the Feeding-regulated Transcriptome in Male Mice.Endocrinology · 2025Article
- Hippocampal gene expression changes associated with sequential behavioral training in a temporal lobe epilepsy rat model.Epilepsy & behavior reports · 2025Article
- Mossy Fiber Sprouting in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: The Impact of Netrin-1, DCC, and Gene Expression Changes.Biomedicines · 2024Article
- Integrative transcriptome- and DNA methylation analysis of brain tissue from the temporal pole in suicide decedents and their controls.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- Downregulated NPAS4 in multiple brain regions is associated with major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Genomic analysis of the rhesus macaque (Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Human tau-overexpressing mice recapitulate brainstem involvement and neuropsychiatric features of early Alzheimer's disease.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2023Article
- Review
- Structures of NPAS4-ARNT and NPAS4-ARNT2 heterodimers reveal new dimerization modalities in the bHLH-PAS transcription factor family.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Arc Regulates Transcription of Genes for Plasticity, Excitability and Alzheimer's Disease.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Tet3 Deletion in Adult Brain Neurons of Female Mice Results in Anxiety-like Behavior and Cognitive Impairments.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Article
- Physical Enrichment Triggers Brain Plasticity and Influences Blood Plasma Circulating miRNA in Rainbow Trout (Biology · 2022Article
- Protective Effects of Intranasally Administrated Oxytocin-Loaded Nanoparticles on Pentylenetetrazole-Kindling Epilepsy in Terms of Seizure Severity, Memory, Neurogenesis, and Neuronal Damage.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2022Article
- NPAS4 Polymorphisms Contribute to Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Risk.Cardiovascular toxicology · 2022Article
- Dysregulation ofLearning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Direct protein-protein interaction between Npas4 and IPAS mutually inhibits their critical roles in neuronal cell survival and death.Cell death discovery · 2021Article
- Inhibition of BET Proteins during Adolescence Affects Prefrontal Cortical Development: Relevance to Schizophrenia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Npas4 is a transcription factor, which is highly expressed in the brain and regulates the formation and maintenance of inhibitory synapses in response to excitatory synaptic activity. A deregulation of the inhibitory-excitatory balance has been associated with a variety of human developmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism. However, not much is known about the role played by inhibitory synapses and inhibitory pathways in the development of nervous system disorders. We hypothesized that alterations in the inhibitory pathways induced by the absence of Npas4 play a major role in the expression of the symptoms observed in psychiatric disorders. To test this hypothesis we tested mice lacking the transcription factor (Npas4 knock-out mice (Npas4-KO)) in a battery of behavioral assays focusing on general activity, social behaviors, and cognitive functions. Npas4-KO mice are hyperactive in a novel environment, spend less time exploring an unfamiliar ovariectomized female, spend more time avoiding an unfamiliar male during a first encounter, show higher social dominance than their WT littermates, and display pre-pulse inhibition, working memory, long-term memory, and cognitive flexibility deficits. These behavioral deficits may replicate schizophrenia-related symptomatology such as social anxiety, hyperactivity, and cognitive and sensorimotor gating deficits. Immunohistochemistry analyses revealed that Npas4 expression is induced in the hippocampus after a social encounter and that Npas4 regulates the expression of c-Fos in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the hippocampus after a cognitive task. Our results suggest that Npas4 may play a major role in the regulation of cognitive and social functions in the brain with possible implications for developmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.