@article {Benito178814, author = {Eva Benito and Cemil Kerimoglu and Binu Ramachandran and Qihui Zhou and Tonatiuh Pena and Vincenzo Capece and Gaurav Jain and Susanne Burkhardt and Roman Stilling and Dieter Edbauer and Camin Dean and Andr{\'e} Fischer}, title = {RNA-dependent intergenerational inheritance of enhanced synaptic plasticity after environmental enrichment}, elocation-id = {178814}, year = {2017}, doi = {10.1101/178814}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Physical exercise in combination with cognitive training is known to enhance synaptic plasticity and lower the risk for various complex diseases including Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease. Here we show that exposure of adult male mice to an environmental enrichment paradigm leads to long-lasting enhancement of synaptic plasticity that is also passed on to the next generation. We show that the effect is mediated through sperm RNA and is explained by microRNAs 212/132. In conclusion, our study reports intergenerational inheritance of an acquired cognitive benefit and points to specific microRNAs as candidates mechanistically involved in this type of transmission.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/20/178814}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/20/178814.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }