Phosphodiesterase 4D: an enzyme to remember.

Abstract

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is one of the second messengers critically involved in the molecular mechanisms underlying memory formation. In the CNS, the availability of cAMP is tightly controlled by phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), a family of enzymes that degrades the cyclic nucleotide to inactive AMP. Among the different PDE4 isoforms, in the last few years PDE4D has been hogging the limelight due to accumulating evidence for its crucial role in cognitive processes, which makes this enzyme a promising target for therapeutic interventions in a variety of pathological conditions characterized by memory impairment, such as Alzheimer's disease. In this article, we review the role of the cAMP signal transduction pathway in memory formation with a particular focus on the recent progress in PDE4D research.

• Authors: Roberta Ricciarelli, Ernesto Fedele
• Journal: British journal of pharmacology (Br J Pharmacol) Vol. 172 Issue 20 Pg. 4785-9 (Oct 2015) ISSN: 1476-5381 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 26211680 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)
• Copyright: © 2015 The British Pharmacological Society.

Chemical References

• Cyclic AMP
• Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4

Topics

• Animals
• Cyclic AMP (metabolism)
• Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterases, Type 4 (metabolism)
• Humans
• Memory (physiology)
• Signal Transduction