Previous studies have noted impaired inhibitory avoidance acquisition and exaggerated extinction in the Fmr1 KO mice ( Yuskaitis et al., 2010 and Dölen et al., 2007). Consistent with findings in Fmr1 KO ( Dölen et al., 2007) and Grm5 KO ( Xu et al., 2009) mice, chronic mGlu5 inhibition retarded memory extinction. We were surprised to discover,

however, that long-term CTEP treatment also increased acquisition in both genotypes. We speculate that metaplasticity after chronic partial mGlu5 inhibition promotes the synaptic modifications that accompany inhibitory avoidance acquisition ( Whitlock et al., 2006). FXS patients frequently this website present a hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli (Hagerman, 1996) and a deficit in the prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the startle response (Frankland et al., 2004). In

Fmr1 KO mice, correction of the increased PPI by acute MPEP administration could be demonstrated based on eye-blink response ( de Vrij et al., 2008), but not by measuring whole-body startle response ( Thomas et al., 2012). The interpretation find more of these PPI results in mice is confounded, because Fmr1 KO compared to WT mice show a reduced whole-body startle in response to loud (>110 dB) auditory stimuli but an elevated whole-body startle response to low-intensity auditory stimuli (<90 dB) ( Nielsen et al., 2002). On this background, we studied the elevated whole-body startle response in Fmr1 KO compared to WT mice to low-intensity stimuli, which was fully corrected by chronic CTEP treatment ( Figure 2F). To better understand the molecular underpinning of the treatment effects, we studied ERK and

mTOR phosphorylation in the cortex of adult animals after chronic CTEP treatment. ERK is an important component of the signaling cascade downstream of Gp1 mGlu receptors, and ERK inhibition is sufficient to normalize isothipendyl the elevated protein synthesis rate in Fmr1 KO hippocampus sections and to suppress seizures ( Chuang et al., 2005 and Osterweil et al., 2010). Like ERK, mTOR is an important regulator of protein synthesis and also modulates Gp1 mGlu-dependent hippocampal LTD ( Hou and Klann, 2004). In Fmr1 KO mice, the level of mTOR activity is elevated in some preparations and unresponsive to mGlu1/5 activation ( Osterweil et al., 2010 and Sharma et al., 2010). These observations suggest that the normalization of ERK and mTOR activity in Fmr1 KO mice by chronic CTEP treatment is likely an integral part of the cellular mechanism through which mGlu5 inhibitors correct the altered hippocampal LTD, elevated AGS susceptibility, and deficient learning and memory in FXS. Taken together, our data provide evidence for the potential of mGlu5 inhibitors to correct a broad range of complex behavioral, cellular, and neuroanatomical phenotypes closely related to patients’ symptoms in Fmr1 KO mice.