Lovastatin improves impaired LTP-like plasticity in patients with Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) is one of the most common genetic disorders that causes learning disabilities. In NF1 loss of function mutations of neurofibromin causes RAS-pathway hyperactivity, leading to deficits in long-term potentiation (LTP), a basic mechanism of learning and memory in the mouse model. Recently, it was shown that inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase by Lovastatin reduces RAS-pathway hyperactivity and improves LTP in NF1 mice. The presented study shows that humans with NF1 have impaired LTP-like plasticity and that this impairment can be rescued by Lovastatin. In 11 NF1-patients (28.0±9.2 y) and…