Viral vector-mediated delivery of estrogen receptor-α to the hippocampus improves spatial learning in estrogen receptor-α knockout mice

Estrogen, which influences both classical genomic and rapid membrane-associated signaling cascades, has been implicated in the regulation of hippocampal function, including spatial learning. Gene mutation studies suggest that estrogen effects are mediated by estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-alpha); however, because gonadal steroids influence the organization of the hippocampus during development, it has been difficult to distinguish developmental effects from those specific to adults. In this study we show that lentiviral delivery of the gene encoding ER-alpha to the hippocampus of adult ER-alpha-knockout (ER-alpha KO) mice restores hippocampal responsiveness to estrogen and rescues spatial learning. We propose that constitutive estrogen receptor activity is important for maintaining hippocampus-dependent memory function in adults.