BACE1 partial deletion induces synaptic plasticity deficit in adult mice

BACE1 is depleted in adult BACE1 cKO mice following tamoxifen treatment

To investigate the effects of BACE1 depletion in adult mice we generated a BACE1 cKO model. The Exon2 of BACE1 gene was flanked by loxP sites by homologous recombination (BACE1^flox/flox) (Supplementary Fig. 1a). Whole body inducible recombination was achieved by crossing the BACE1^flox/flox line with the Rosa26CreERT2 line²¹ obtaining mice homozygous for BACE1 floxed allele and hemizygous for the Rosa26CreERT2 allele (BACE1^flox/flox;RosaCreERT2^+/WT) (Supplementary Fig. 1b). To induce recombination mice (between 8 and 12 weeks of age) were treated with 200 mg/kg per body weight of TAM or vehicle (VEH) over a 5-week period consisting of 5 consecutive days of dosing in weeks 1, 3 and 5. Each treatment week was followed by a week of recovery (i.e. weeks 2 and 4; Fig. 1a). Mice were analysed at two different…