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Volume 17, Number 12,
Issue of June 15, 1997
pp. 4600-4611
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
Postsynaptic Calcineurin Activity Downregulates Synaptic
Transmission by Weakening Intracellular Ca2+ Signaling
Mechanisms in Hippocampal CA1 Neurons
Jin-Hui Wang and
Paul T. Kelly
Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Medical
School at Houston, Houston, Texas 77225
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
FOOTNOTES
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
Protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation are believed to
functionally couple neuronal activity and synaptic plasticity. Our
previous results indicated that postsynaptic
Ca2+/calmodulin (CaM) signaling pathways play an
important role in setting synaptic strength, and calcineurin (CaN)
activity limits synaptic responses during basal synaptic transmission
and long-term potentiation expression. The inhibition of postsynaptic
CaN activity by FK-506 or an autoinhibitory peptide induced synaptic
potentiation in hippocampal slices, which occludes tetanus-induced LTP.
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation was expressed in adult but not
young rats. To elucidate mechanisms underlying CaN-inhibited synaptic
potentiation, we co-injected certain agents affecting
Ca2+ signaling pathways with CaN inhibitors into CA1
neurons. Synaptic potentiation induced by FK-506 was significantly
attenuated by co-injecting BAPTA, heparin/dantrolene (inhibitors of
intracellular Ca2+ release), a CaM-binding peptide,
or CaM-KII/PKC pseudosubstrate peptides. These results indicate that
postsynaptic CaN activity can downregulate evoked synaptic transmission
by weakening intracellular Ca2+ signals and
downstream protein kinase activities.
Key words:
synaptic potentiation;
calcineurin inhibitor;
calcium/calmodulin;
IP3/ryanodine receptors;
positive feedback;
postsynaptic manipulation
INTRODUCTION
Synaptic transmission is the basic process of
information exchange among neurons in the nervous system, and
activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, e.g., long-term potentiation
(LTP), is believed to be a cellular model of learning and memory in
mammalian brain (Bliss and Lynch, 1988 ; Gustafsson and Wigstrom, 1988 ;
Bliss and Collingridge, 1993 ; Lisman, 1994 ; Eichenbaum, 1995 ). Much
recent experimentation has focused on studying the cellular and
molecular mechanisms underlying synaptic transmission and synaptic
plasticity. One characteristic of synaptic plasticity is that the
strength of synaptic transmission can be enhanced or attenuated by
certain electrical or chemical protocols. For example, synaptic
strengthening is induced by high-frequency stimulation (Bliss and
Gardner-Medwin, 1973 ; Bliss and Lomo, 1973 ; Bliss and Collingridge,
1993 ) or activators of protein kinases (Malenka et al., 1986b ; Hu et
al., 1987 ; Wang and Feng, 1992 ; Wang and Kelly, 1995 ), and synaptic
weakening is induced by low-frequency stimulation (Dunwiddie and Lynch, 1978 ; Ito, 1982). The molecular mechanisms that reset synaptic strength
to new levels after these manipulations may require a shift in balance
between protein kinase and phosphatase activities, because many studies
have indicated that protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation
regulate the magnitude of many diverse biological activities
(Nestler and Greengard, 1984 ; Krebs, 1994 ). It is well known that the
activities of protein kinases are essential for the induction and
maintenance of LTP (Akers et al., 1986 ; Malinow et al., 1988 , 1989 ;
Malenka et al., 1989 ; O'Dell et al., 1991 ; Feng and Wang, 1992 ; Wang
and Feng, 1992 ; Fukunaga et al., 1993 ; Thomas et al., 1994 ; Wang and
Kelly, 1996a ), in which protein phosphorylation is believed to
upregulate synaptic strength. The converse of this hypothesis is that
protein phosphatases (PrP) may contribute to synaptic weakening, which
is supported by results showing that PrP activities are required for
long-term depression (LTD) (Mulkey et al., 1993 , 1994 ) and that the
inhibition of PrP-1, -2A, or -2B can enhance synaptic transmission
(Figurov, 1992; Wyllie and Nicoll, 1994 ; Wang and Kelly, 1996a ).
We have shown that calcium/calmodulin (Ca2+/CaM)
signaling pathways are important in regulating the output of synaptic
transmission by shifting the balance between postsynaptic
Ca2+/CaM-dependent protein kinase II
(CaM-KII)/protein kinase C (PKC) and calcineurin (CaN) activities. For
example, the injection or perfusion of Ca2+/CaM into
postsynaptic neurons induces synaptic potentiation (Wang and Kelly,
1995 ) (J. Wang and P. Kelly, unpublished observations), the
postsynaptic injections of CaN inhibitor (a protocol for inhibiting CaN
activity) induces synaptic potentiation (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ), which
we call CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation, and the inhibition of
postsynaptic CaM-KII and PKC attenuates tetanus-induced LTP (Wang and
Kelly, 1996a ). Because CaN is preferentially activated by low
Ca2+/CaM concentrations (KD = ~0.1-1 nM) compared with CaM-KII
(KD = ~40-100 nM) (Cohen, 1988 ;
Klee and Cohen, 1988 ; Schulman and Lou, 1989 ; Klee, 1991 ), and
oscillations in intracellular Ca2+ range from 10 to
100 nM under resting conditions (Carafoli, 1987 ; Amundson
and Clapham, 1993 ; Ghosh and Greenberg, 1995 ), interactions of
Ca2+ with CaN -subunit and CaM result in the
possibility that CaN is active and limits synaptic strength at a low
and stable level under basal conditions. This can explain why
postsynaptic injections of Ca2+/CaM primarily
activate protein kinases and induce synaptic potentiation without
short-term synaptic depression proceeding potentiation (Wang and Kelly,
1995 ) as well as why postsynaptic injections of CaN inhibitors induce
synaptic potentiation (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ).
What is the mechanism(s) underlying synaptic potentiation induced by
inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity? It may be simply understood as
shifting the balance between protein kinase and phosphatase activities
toward enhancing the phosphorylation of protein substrates responsible
for synaptic transmission without increasing the absolute activity of
protein kinases. In other words, after CaN is inhibited, the action of
basal kinase activities on synaptic substrates becomes dominant,
because Ca2+-dependent protein kinases are active
under basal conditions in hippocampal slices (Ocorr and Schulman, 1991 ;
Huber, 1995). However, the inhibition of postsynaptic CaM-KII and PKC
activities do not significantly alter basal synaptic transmission
(Tsien et al., 1990 ; Feng and Wang, 1992 ; Wang and Kelly, 1996a ),
implying that basal CaM-KII and PKC activities are below a threshold
for strengthening synaptic transmission. Together with observations
that tetanic stimulation produces large increases in protein kinase
activities relative to basal conditions (Akers et al., 1986 ; Fukunaga
et al., 1993 ), it seems a little difficult to understand why
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation, which presumably requires basal
kinase activities, is larger than tetanus LTP (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ). We propose that inhibiting postsynaptic CaN enhances positive-feedback cascades that amplify the activities of intracellular signaling pathways and protein kinases more than it shifts the balance between protein kinase and phosphatase activities on synaptic substrates. To
better understand these cascades, we examined whether intracellular Ca2+ signaling pathways are involved in
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation. Experiments were conducted by
co-injecting agents that block Ca2+ signaling
cascades with CaN inhibitors into hippocampal CA1 neurons.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Transverse hippocampal slices were prepared from male Harlan
Sprague Dawley rats (6-7 or 2-3 weeks old) with a Mcllwain tissue chopper in ice-cold standard medium (gassed with 95%
O2/5% CO2), as described
previously (Wang and Kelly, 1995 , 1996a ,b ). Slices were incubated at
25°C over 1 hr and transferred to a submersion chamber (31°C; 2 ml/min perfusion rate) for electrophysiological experiments. Standard
medium contained (in mM): 124 NaCl, 3 KCl, 1.3 NaH2PO4, 26 NaHCO3,
2.4 MgCl2, 2.4 CaCl2, 10 dextrose, and 10 HEPES, pH 7.25. To reduce the effects of
GABAA-mediated inhibitory components on excitable synaptic
transmission, experiments were conducted in the presence of bicuculline
plus picrotoxin (10 µM each). In addition, orthodromic
stimulating electrodes were placed as far away from recording sites as
possible to avoid evoking monosynaptic GABAergic synaptic activities
caused by directly stimulating interneurons. Certain manipulations were
used to prevent neuronal hyperexcitability in the presence of GABAergic
antagonists as follows. (1) "Isolation" of area CA1 was achieved by
cutting presynaptic axons in stratum radiatum but not in oriens/alveus; this optimizes the integrity of CA1 neurons (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ) by
preventing the stress of neurons from axon injury during preparation of
isolated CA1 slices (Kauer et al., 1988 ; Malenka et al., 1988 ); and (2)
the concentration of Mg2+ was 2.4 mM to
limit hyperactivity of excitatory synapses. Under these conditions,
seizure activity was never observed during basal synaptic transmission
and postsynaptic injections of agents; complex waveforms only occurred
after tetanic stimulation in some experiments.
One bipolar tungsten stimulating electrode (12 M ) was positioned in
stratum radiatum of CA1 area for orthodromically stimulating Schaffer
collateral/commissural axons. The frequency of test stimuli was 0.05 Hz; high-frequency tetanic stimulation was composed of 10 trains with 5 sec intervals in which each train contained 10 pulses with 200 Hz
frequency. Glass microelectrodes (60-85 M ) filled with 2 M potassium acetate (KAc) or 2 M KAc plus
various agents [FK-506, rapamycin, CaN autoinhibitory peptide
(CaN-AIP), Ca2+/CaM,
1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)-ethane-N,N,N ,N -tetra-acetic acid (BAPTA), a mixture of heparin/dantrolene, a CaM-binding
peptide (CBP), or CaM-KII/PKC pseudosubstrate inhibitory peptides]
were used for current- or voltage-clamp recordings in CA1 pyramidal neurons; pipettes containing 1 M NaCl were routinely used
to record field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (f-EPSPs) in stratum radiatum and were positioned near the intracellular recording site to
verify the viability of tissue slices and status of synaptic activity.
Experimental results are based only on neurons in which stable
recordings were obtained within the initial 2 min after impalement and
that exhibited stable membrane potentials between 70 and 73 mV
throughout an experiment. During experiments conducted by voltage-clamp
recording with 3 KHz sampling rate, membrane potentials were held at
78 mV (i.e., near the GABAA reversal potential), together
with application of GABAergic antagonists, to reduce possible
contamination in measuring excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs)
from mono- and disynaptic inhibitory activities. Baseline values (the
first data point in each figure) of synaptic transmission were averaged
from initial slopes of synaptic responses (EPSPs, EPSCs, or f-EPSPs)
during the first minute after stable intracellular recordings were
established and defined as 100%. Values of CaN-inhibited synaptic
potentiation were data points 1-2 min before tetanic stimulation
(arrows) compared with baseline. Values of LTP were data points 20 min
post-tetanus compared with baseline. Values of synaptic depotentiation
were data points 20 min post-tetanus compared with potentiation values.
Synaptic responses are represented as mean ± SEM. Series and
input resistances were monitored throughout all voltage- and
current-clamp experiments by measuring responses to 4 mV and 0.1 nA
injections (50 msec). Data were obtained with pClamp 5.5 and analyzed
with custom software to compute initial EPSP, EPSC, and f-EPSP slopes.
t Tests were used for statistical comparisons. Each waveform
was averaged from six consecutive responses, and waveforms in each
figure were selected from a representative experiment.
CaN-AIP (3 mM stock in distilled water) was diluted
to a final concentration of 300 µM in 2 M
KAc. Ca2+/CaM mixtures were prepared from
CaCl2 and CaM stock solutions and mixed with CaN-AIP; they
were diluted to a final concentrations of 20/80 µM and
300 µM in 2 M KAc, respectively. FK-506 and
rapamycin were dissolved in 100% ethanol (50 mM stock
solutions) and diluted to a final concentration of 50 µM
in 2 M KAc. BAPTA was dissolved in 3 M KOH (400 mM in stock, pH 7.2) and diluted to a final concentration of 20 mM in 2 M KAc plus 50 µM
FK-506. Heparin and dantrolene were dissolved in 2 M KAc
plus 50 µM FK-506 at final concentrations of 300 and 80 µM, respectively. Stock solutions of CBP, or
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302/PKC19-31,
were diluted in KAc to final concentrations of 100 µM or
200 µM/100 µM in 2 M KAc,
respectively. These solutions filled the entire microelectrode (i.e.,
back-filling with 2 M KAc was not performed). Bicuculline
and BAPTA were obtained from Sigma (St. Louis, MO), and heparin,
dantrolene, D( )-2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid (D-AP5),
and picrotoxin were obtained from RBI (Natick, MA). CaM was a gift from
Dr. J. Aronowski; CaN-AIP was a gift from Dr. Randall Kincaid (Veritas,
Rockville, MD), and FK-506 and rapamycin were gifts from Dr. Stan
Stepkowski (University of Texas Medical School at Houston).
RESULTS
Inhibiting postsynaptic CaN induces greater synaptic potentiation
than tetanus LTP
Postsynaptic injections of Ca2+/CaM into CA1
neurons induce synaptic potentiation by activating CaM-KII and PKC
(Wang and Kelly, 1995 ), and postsynaptic injections of FK-506 induce
synaptic potentiation by inhibiting basal CaN activity (Wang and Kelly,
1996a ). Thus, we predicted that the co-injection of
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN inhibitor should induce larger
synaptic potentiation than that by Ca2+/CaM alone,
especially because partial inhibition of postsynaptic CaN activity
facilitates the magnitude of tetanus-induced LTP (Wang and Kelly,
1996a ). To test this prediction, microelectrodes were used for both
intracellular recordings and postsynaptic co-injections of a CaN-AIP
(Hashimoto et al., 1990 ; Perrino, 1995) plus
Ca2+/CaM into CA1 neurons of hippocampal slices from
adult rats. One typical experiment is shown in Figure
1A,a. Postsynaptic
co-injection of Ca2+/CaM and CaN-AIP induced
synaptic potentiation (solid circles), whereas synaptic
responses in simultaneous field potential recordings were unchanged;
tetanic stimulation induced LTP of f-EPSPs (open circles).
Figure 1A,b shows the average of
group results (n = 7). Synaptic potentiation was
induced by co-injecting Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP
(184 ± 10% relative to baseline values 100%); tetanic
stimulation given at 60 min produced a small decrease in synaptic
strength (165 ± 8% relative to baseline values, i.e., 19%
depotentiation). Simultaneous f-EPSPs are shown in Figure 1A,c; synaptic transmission was
stable for 60 min and then tetanic stimulation induced LTP (172 ± 6%, n = 7). Compared with
Ca2+/CaM-induced synaptic potentiation (183 ± 9%, n = 8) (Wang and Kelly, 1995 ) (see bar graph
inset in Fig. 1A,b),
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP-induced synaptic potentiation
was not significantly different (p = 0.594)
30-35 min after the beginning of injections. This result is different
from our prediction. One explanation is that the co-injection of
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP may produce an unknown
interaction on CaN activity such that synaptic potentiation is
primarily attributable to Ca2+/CaM-stimulated
CaM-KII and PKC activities.
Fig. 1.
Postsynaptic injections of
Ca2+/CaM and/or CaN-AIP induce synaptic
potentiation. A, a, Representative
experiment showing potentiated EPSPs induced by postsynaptic injection
of Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP (solid
symbols) and stable synaptic transmission followed by
tetanus-induced LTP during simultaneous f-EPSPs (open symbols). A, b, Average synaptic
potentiation induced by injecting Ca2+/CaM plus
CaN-AIP (n = 7). Inset waveforms
show potentiated EPSPs and unchanged input resistance. Calibration: 15 mV/30 msec. Inset bar graph compares the magnitude
between Ca2+/CaM-induced synaptic potentiation
(white bar; value from Wang and Kelly, 1995 ) and
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP-induced synaptic potentiation
(gray bar). A, c,
Normalized f-EPSP slopes recorded during injection of
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP (n = 7).
Waveforms show tetanus-induced LTP. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec.
B, a, Representative experiment showing synaptic potentiation induced by postsynaptic injection of CaN-AIP (solid symbols) and simultaneous f-EPSPs with stable
baseline followed by tetanus-induced LTP (open symbols).
B, b, Average synaptic potentiation
induced by injection of CaN-AIP (n = 6). Waveforms show potentiated EPSPs and unchanged input
resistance. Calibration: 15 mV/30 msec. B,
c, Normalized f-EPSP slopes recorded during CaN-AIP
injections (n = 6). Waveforms show
tetanus-induced LTP. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec. Vertical
arrows at 60 min denote tetanic stimulation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (40K GIF file)]
To better understand the effects of CaN-AIP on synaptic activity, we
injected CaN-AIP alone into postsynaptic neurons. One typical
experiment is shown in Figure 1B,a.
The postsynaptic injection of CaN-AIP induced a gradual increase in
EPSP slopes (solid circles); simultaneous f-EPSPs were
stable under basal conditions and tetanus LTP (open
circles). Average results (n = 6) of intracellular
recordings during postsynaptic injections of CaN-AIP and simultaneous
f-EPSPs are shown in Figures 1B,b
and 1B,c, respectively. Synaptic
potentiation induced by injecting CaN-AIP was 212 ± 14% relative
to baseline. Tetanic stimulation to presynaptic axons making synaptic
connections on CaN-AIP-injected neurons after 60 min decreased synaptic
potentiation (162 ± 8%, i.e., 50% depotentiation). f-EPSP
slopes did not change within the 60 min period of CaN-AIP injections,
but increased after tetanic stimulation (177 ± 4%).
Interestingly, compared with synaptic potentiation induced by injecting
Ca2+/CaM plus CaN-AIP, potentiation induced by
injecting CaN-AIP alone was significantly greater
(p = 0.00133). These results urged us to study
the mechanisms underlying synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting
postsynaptic CaN activity.
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation is
developmentally regulated
Recent reports have shown that the manipulation of
inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity produces different actions on
synaptic plasticity. FK-506 or cypermethrin prevents LTD induction in
hippocampal slices from young rats (2-3 weeks old) (Mulkey et al.,
1994 ) or LTP induction in hippocampal slices from young guinea pigs (2 weeks old) (Wang and Stelzer, 1994 ). In these studies, postsynaptic injections of CaN inhibitors did not affect basal synaptic
transmission. These results together with our own findings (Fig. 1)
(Wang and Kelly, 1996a ) suggest that CaN activity regulates basal
synaptic transmission only when hippocampal CaN has reached more mature levels at approximately postnatal day 24 (P24) (Tallant and Cheung, 1983 ; Polli et al., 1991 ; Wang and Kelly, 1996a ). To examine this hypothesis, we injected FK-506 into CA1 neurons in hippocampal slices
from either adult or young rats. FK-506 inhibits CaN activity by
binding to FK-506-binding proteins (e.g., FKBP-12) and is a much more
potent (IC50 = ~30 nM) (Wiederrecht et al.,
1989 ; Schreiber and Crabtree, 1992 ; Steiner et al., 1992 ; Dawson et
al., 1994 ; MacKintosh and MacKintosh, 1994 ) than CaN-AIP
(IC50 = ~10 µM) (Hashimoto et al., 1990 ).
Under voltage-clamp recordings with pipettes containing 50 µM FK-506, synaptic responses (EPSC slope) gradually
increased over 32 min (220 ± 16%; n = 6) (Fig.
2A, solid circles) in adult
CA1 neurons; subsequent tetanic stimulation produced an attenuation of
synaptic potentiation (189 ± 17%, i.e., 31% depotentiation;
p = 0.021). Simultaneous extracellular f-EPSPs were
stable during the initial 32 min and expressed LTP after tetanic
stimulation (155 ± 5%; n = 6) (Fig.
2B). In control experiments using 50 µM
rapamycin (in 0.1% ethanol/2 M KAc), which combines with
the CaN anchoring protein FKBP-12 but does not inhibit CaN activity
(Wiederrecht et al., 1989 ; Schreiber and Crabtree, 1992 ; MacKintosh and
MacKintosh, 1994 ), synaptic responses were unchanged for 60 min (Fig.
2A, gray circles) and were potentiated by
tetanic stimulation (184 ± 10%; n = 5, 3 from
22- to 28-d-old rats and 2 from adult rats). These controls indicate
that postsynaptic injections of 50 µM rapamycin in 0.1%
ethanol into CA1 neurons from young and adult slices did not affect
basal synaptic transmission or tetanus LTP.
Fig. 2.
Synaptic potentiation induced by postsynaptic
injections of FK-506 is age-dependent. A, Increases in
EPSC slopes induced by postsynaptic injections of FK-506 and partial
depotentiation after tetanic stimulation (solid symbols;
n = 6); gray symbols show stable
synaptic transmission and subsequent tetanus-induced LTP during
postsynaptic injections of rapamycin (n = 5).
Waveforms show FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation
(left) and tetanus LTP in rapamycin controls
(right). Calibration: 250 pA/30 msec. B, Stable f-EPSP slopes recorded during FK-506 injections and subsequent tetanus-induced LTP. Waveforms show tetanus LTP.
Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec. Results in A and
B were obtained using slices from adult rats.
C, Postsynaptic injections of FK-506 into CA1 neurons in
young slices (14-21 d) did not significantly change synaptic transmission and prevented tetanus LTP (n = 6).
Inset shows representative waveforms. Calibration: 200 pA/30 msec. D, f-EPSPs during FK-506 injections in young
slices show stable synaptic transmission and tetanus LTP.
Waveforms show tetanus LTP. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec.
Vertical arrows denote tetanic stimulation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (33K GIF file)]
Next we examined the effect of postsynaptic injections of FK-506 into
CA1 neurons on synaptic transmission in hippocampal slices from young
rats (2-3 weeks old). As shown in Figure 2C, EPSC slopes
did not significantly change during voltage-clamp recordings with
pipettes containing 50 µM FK-506, and tetanic stimulation
at 32 min induced no synaptic potentiation (n = 6). Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed tetanus-induced LTP (138 ± 7%
relative to baseline, n = 6) (Fig.
2D). The block of tetanus LTP by FK-506 in young
slices was not attributable to the ethanol solvent (see end of
preceding paragraph). These results support the notion that the
inhibition of postsynaptic CaN activity enhances basal synaptic
transmission only in adult animals; i.e., synaptic potentiation induced
by inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity is age-dependent. Our results
also support a previous study in which postsynaptic injections of
cypermethrin (a CaN inhibitor with IC50 = ~40
pM) prevented LTP induction in hippocampal slices from
young guinea pigs (Wang and Stelzer, 1994 ), although another study
showed that bath application of FK-506 did not affect LTP induction in
young rats (Mulkey et al., 1994 ). It is noteworthy that the magnitude of tetanus LTP (f-EPSP slopes) in slices from adult (155-184%) was
significantly greater than that from young rats (138%;
p < 0.01). This indicates that mechanisms underlying
LTP magnitude are still developing during this early stage.
Synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting postsynaptic CaN
requires Ca2+
One explanation for CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation is that
the basal activity of protein kinases that strengthen synaptic transmission becomes dominant during the inhibition of CaN. We have
shown that inhibiting postsynaptic CaM-KII and PKC activities under
basal conditions does not alter synaptic strength (Wang and Kelly,
1996a ), which suggests that basal CaM-KII and PKC activities are not
high enough to modulate basal synaptic transmission, or their function
is masked by high CaN activity. Because CaM-KII and PKC activities
increase after LTP induction (Akers et al., 1986 ; Fukunaga et al.,
1993 ) and are required for tetanus-induced LTP (Malinow et al., 1988 ,
1989 ; Malenka et al., 1989 ; Feng and Wang, 1992 ; Wang and Feng, 1992 ;
Wang and Kelly, 1996a ), it would seem logical that tetanus-induced LTP
should be greater than synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting
postsynaptic CaN. This prediction was not supported by our results,
which showed that CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation is greater in
magnitude than tetanus LTP (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ) (see also Figs. 1,
2A).
Alternatively, inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity may trigger an
amplification cascade (positive feedback) that produces greater
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation compared with tetanus LTP. Because
synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity
appears in a few minutes (Figs. 1, 2), it seems likely that the primary
mechanisms underlying this potentiation rely on intracellular second
messenger pathways rather than on the activation of gene expression. To
examine the possibility that increases in intracellular
Ca2+ serve as this amplification cascade, we
co-injected BAPTA with FK-506 into postsynaptic CA1 neurons. Figure
3A shows the time course of synaptic
responses (EPSC slopes) observed while injecting 50 µM
FK-506 plus 20 mM BAPTA, or 50 µM FK-506
alone. Compared with FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation at 60 min
(207 ± 11%; n = 6), the co-injection of BAPTA
significantly attenuated FK-506-induced potentiation (117 ± 5%;
n = 6, p = 0.00079) and prevented
subsequent tetanus-induced LTP (119 ± 8% relative to baseline at
20 min post-tetanus). Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed stable synaptic
transmission and tetanus-induced LTP (167 ± 6%). This result
indicates that postsynaptic Ca2+ is involved in
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation. Because the dissociation constant
of BAPTA (Kd) for Ca2+
is 107 nM (Tsien, 1980 ), and postsynaptic injection of
BAPTA does not affect basal synaptic transmission (Wang and Kelly,
1996b ), BAPTA may not efficiently chelate intracellular
Ca2+ under resting conditions (10-100
nM). Thus, the block of CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation
by BAPTA indicates that an increase in intracellular Ca2+ may be associated.
Fig. 3.
Postsynaptic co-injection of BAPTA attenuates
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation. A, Gray
symbols show FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation without
tetanic stimulation (this data also present in Figs. 4C,
5A, 5C) (n = 6); solid symbols show results from co-injections of
BAPTA with FK-506, which attenuates FK-506-induced potentiation and
blocks tetanus LTP. Waveforms show FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation (left) and its attenuation by
BAPTA (right). Calibration: 250 pA/30 msec.
B, f-EPSP slopes recorded during co-injection of BAPTA
with FK-506 are stable and exhibit tetanus LTP.
Waveforms show LTP. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec.
Vertical arrows denote tetanic stimulation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (27K GIF file)]
Ca2+ release by IP3R and RyR is
required for FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation
What are potential sources of intracellular
Ca2+ required for FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation? The increase of cytoplasmic Ca2+ may
come from influx via NMDA receptor channels or voltage-gated calcium
channels and/or release from intracellular stores via inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and ryanodine
receptor channels (Ghosh and Greenberg, 1995 ). Our results suggest that
voltage-gated calcium channels may not play an important role in
FK-506-induced potentiation, because they should not be significantly
activated during our experiments under the conditions of voltage-clamp
recordings and low frequency (0.05 Hz) of test stimuli without
depolarizing pulses (Figs. 2, 3, 4). Reports have shown that phosphatase
inhibitors enhanced currents through NMDA receptor channels (Lieberman
and Mody, 1994 ; Wang and Salter, 1994 ; Wang et al., 1994 ), and CaN activated by Ca2+ influx shortens opening time
(Lieberman and Mody, 1994 ). It seems reasonable that the inhibition of
postsynaptic CaN activity could enhance NMDA receptor currents and
produce increases in intracellular Ca2+. To test
this possibility, we conducted experiments injecting FK-506 into
postsynaptic neurons in the presence of 40 µM D-AP5 (an
NMDA receptor antagonist). Hippocampal slices were perfused with
D-AP5-containing standard solution starting 30 min before recordings.
Figure 4A shows the effect of D-AP5 on
postsynaptic injections of FK-506 (50 µM in pipettes).
Robust synaptic potentiation was routinely induced by FK-506 (211 ± 12% at 40 min; n = 5) (Fig. 4A).
It is interesting that FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation in the
presence of D-AP5 appeared not to be attenuated by tetanic stimulation
(237 ± 20% at 72 min; p = 0.0383). This is
different from our results in the absence of D-AP5 in that tetanic
stimulation produced synaptic depotentiation (19-50%, Figs. 1, 2).
Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed stable synaptic transmission, and tetanic
stimulation failed to induce LTP (127 ± 7% relative to 111 ± 9% before tetanus; p = 0.11) (Fig.
4B) in the presence of D-AP5. These results indicate that the postsynaptic Ca2+ requirement for
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation does not depend on NMDA receptor
activity; however, the depotentiation of FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation after tetanic stimulation seems to require NMDA receptor
activity.
Fig. 4.
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation does not
require NMDA receptor activation and is attenuated by co-injection of
heparin/dantrolene. A, Postsynaptic injections of FK-506
in the presence of 40 µM D-AP5; D-AP5 and tetanic
stimulation at 40 min did not affect FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation (n = 5). Waveforms show
potentiated EPSCs. Calibration: 250 pA/30 msec. B,
Stable f-EPSP slopes during FK-506 injections, and tetanic stimulation
at 40 min produced no LTP in the presence of D-AP5.
Inset shows representative waveforms. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec. C, Co-injections of heparin/dantrolene with
FK-506 attenuate FK-506-induced potentiation and block tetanus-induced LTP (solid symbols, n = 8);
gray symbols show FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation
(n = 6). Waveforms show FK-506
potentiation (left) and its attenuation by
heparin/dantrolene (right). Calibration: 250 pA/30 msec.
D, f-EPSP slopes recorded during co-injections of
heparin/dantrolene with FK-506 are stable and exhibit tetanus-induced LTP. Inset shows representative waveforms. Calibration:
1 mV/20 msec. Vertical arrows denote tetanic
stimulation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (33K GIF file)]
Next we examined the possibility that Ca2+ release
from intracellular stores via IP3 and ryanodine receptor
channels contributes to FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation. Heparin
and dantrolene, which block activities of IP3 and ryanodine
receptors, respectively (Ohta, 1990 ; Smith and Gallacher, 1994 ), were
co-injected with FK-506 into CA1 neurons. Figure 4C shows
the time course of synaptic responses (EPSC slopes) while injecting 50 µM FK-506 plus 300 µM heparin/80
µM dantrolene, or FK-506 alone. Compared with
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation at 60 min (207 ± 11%;
n = 6), postsynaptic co-injections of
heparin/dantrolene significantly attenuated FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation (124 ± 6%; n = 8, p = 0.0009) and prevented additional potentiation by subsequent tetanic
stimulation (119 ± 8%). Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed stable
synaptic transmission and tetanus-induced LTP (164 ± 9%) (Fig.
4D). Postsynaptic injections of heparin plus
dantrolene did not affect basal synaptic transmission but did prevent
the induction of tetanus LTP (n = 5; data not shown).
These results indicate that postsynaptic Ca2+
required for FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation is primarily released
from intracellular stores via IP3 and ryanodine receptor channels.
Ca2+/CaM signaling pathways and CaM-KII/PKC
activities are required for FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation
Because CaM is an important and ubiquitous target of free calcium,
i.e., Ca2+/CaM formation during
Ca2+ increases, the role of
Ca2+/CaM signal pathways in FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation was examined. We first used a high-affinity CBP (Hanley et
al., 1988 ; Kelly et al., 1989 ) to block intracellular cascades
initially triggered by Ca2+/CaM. Microelectrodes
containing 100 µM CBP plus 50 µM FK-506 in
2 M KAc were used for intracellular recordings and
postsynaptic co-injections into CA1 neurons. Figure
5A shows the time course of synaptic
responses (EPSC slopes) while injecting FK-506 plus CBP, or FK-506
alone. Compared with FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation after 60 min
of injection (207 ± 11%; n = 6), postsynaptic
co-injections with CBP significantly eliminated FK-506-induced synaptic
potentiation (105 ± 14%; n = 7, p = 0.00004) and prevented subsequent tetanus-induced LTP (97 ± 6%). Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed stable synaptic
transmission and tetanus-induced LTP (165 ± 5%) (Fig.
5B). These results indicate that biologically active
Ca2+/CaM complexes serve as functional elements in
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation.
Fig. 5.
CaM antagonist (CBP) or
autoinhibitory peptides of CaM-KII/PKC attenuate FK-506-induced
synaptic potentiation. A, Co-injections of CBP with
FK-506 block FK-506-induced potentiation and tetanus LTP (solid
symbols, n = 7); gray
symbols show FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation
(n = 6). Waveforms show FK-506
potentiation (left) and its inhibition by CBP
(right). Calibration: 250 pA/30 msec. B,
f-EPSP slopes recorded during co-injections of CBP with FK-506 are
stable and exhibit tetanus-induced LTP. Inset shows
representative waveforms. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec. C,
Co-injections of
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302 and
PKC19-31 with FK-506 attenuate FK-506-induced potentiation
and block tetanus LTP (solid symbols, n = 7); gray symbols show
FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation (n = 6).
Waveforms show FK-506 potentiation (left)
and its attenuation by
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302 and
PKC19-31 (right). Calibration: 250 pA/30
msec. D, f-EPSP slopes recorded during co-injections of
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302 and
PKC19-31 with FK-506 are stable and exhibit
tetanus-induced LTP. Inset shows representative
waveforms. Calibration: 1 mV/20 msec. Vertical arrows
denote tetanic stimulation.
[View Larger Version of this Image (34K GIF file)]
We have shown that Ca2+/CaM-induced synaptic
potentiation requires CaM-KII and PKC activities (Wang and Kelly,
1995 ). In addition, neuronal IP3 and ryanodine receptors,
which mediate the mobilization of intracellular Ca2+
stores, are phosphorylated by PKC and CaM-KII, and the distinct PKC
phosphorylation site on IP3 receptors is dephosphorylated by CaN (Cameron et al., 1995 ; Furuichi and Mikoshiba, 1995 ; Hain et
al., 1995 ; Snyder and Sabatini, 1995 ). The phosphorylation of
IP3 receptors by either of these kinases appears to
increase their sensitivity to IP3 (Cameron et al., 1995 ).
We speculated that inhibiting postsynaptic CaN activity could result in
increased release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores,
and subsequent increases in Ca2+/CaM levels and
CaM-KII and PKC activities, which then enhance protein phosphorylation
and induce synaptic potentiation. To test this possibility, we
co-injected autoinhibitory peptides of CaM-KII and PKC,
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302 (100 µM) and PKC19-31 (100 µM),
together with 50 µM FK-506 into postsynaptic neurons.
Figure 5C shows the time course of synaptic responses (EPSC
slopes) while injecting FK-506 plus
[Ala286]CaM-KII281-302 and
PKC19-31, or FK-506 alone. Compared with FK-506-induced
synaptic potentiation at 60 min (207 ± 11%; n = 6), CaM-KII and PKC inhibitors significantly attenuated FK-506-induced synaptic potentiation (123 ± 11%; n = 7, p = 0.0004) and prevented subsequent tetanus-induced
LTP (109 ± 11%). Simultaneous f-EPSPs showed stable synaptic
transmission and tetanus-induced LTP (173 ± 13%) (Fig.
5D). These results indicate that postsynaptic CaM-II and PKC
activities are required for synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting
postsynaptic CaN activity.
DISCUSSION
Our results clearly show that the inhibition of postsynaptic CaN
activity by injecting CaN-AIP or FK-506 induces synaptic potentiation
at CA1 synapses. This potentiation appears to require Ca2+ release from intracellular stores, the
participation of Ca2+/CaM, and the activities of
CaM-KII and PKC in postsynaptic neurons. Together with biochemical
studies showing that IP3 and ryanodine receptors are
phosphorylated by PKC and CaM-KII and dephosphorylated by CaN (Cameron
et al., 1995 ; Furuichi and Mikoshiba, 1995 ; Hain et al., 1995 ; Snyder
and Sabatini, 1995 ) and the phosphorylation of IP3
receptors appears to increase their sensitivity to IP3 (Cameron et al., 1995 ), we outline a scheme responsible for
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation (Fig. 6). The
inhibition of postsynaptic CaN increases the ratio of active CaM-KII
and PKC to CaN and facilitates the action of CaM-KII and PKC in
phosphorylating protein substrates that contribute to synaptic
potentiation (e.g., glutamate receptors) and Ca2+
increases from intracellular stores by IP3 and ryanodine
receptor channels. Increased intracellular Ca2+
promotes the formation of Ca2+/CaM complexes and
further activation of CaM-KII and PKC. This network constitutes an
amplification cascade (positive feedback) that is triggered by
inhibiting CaN activity and may lead to unlimited potentiation of
synaptic transmission. However, IP3 and ryanodine receptor-mediated mobilization of intracellular Ca2+
is stimulated in a Ca2+-dependent manner with a
bell-shaped range of Ca2+ concentrations; i.e., high
Ca2+ inhibits Ca2+ release
(Bootman and Berridge, 1995 ; Ehrlich, 1995 ; Furuichi and Mikoshiba,
1995 ; Simpson et al., 1995 ). This may explain why synaptic potentiation
appeared to be saturated in our experiments (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Fig. 6.
Postsynaptic Ca2+/CaM pathways
play key roles in regulating synaptic strength.
Ca2+/CaM is involved in three forms of synaptic
potentiation, including tetanus LTP,
Ca2+/CaM-induced potentiation, and CaN-inhibited
potentiation. (1) NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) activation by
tetanus permits Ca2+ influx into postsynaptic
neuron and increases Ca2+/CaM complexes. (2)
Postsynaptic injection of Ca2+/CaM (bottom
left) elevates Ca2+/CaM concentrations. (3)
Postsynaptic injection of CaN inhibitors (CaN-AIP or
FK-506; bottom right) reduce basal CaN
activity, facilitates the action of CaM-KII and PKC activities on
IP3 and ryanodine receptors, produces more
Ca2+ release, and elevates
Ca2+/CaM concentrations. The Ca2+
and Ca2+/CaM concentrations under basal conditions
make CaN highly active (thick arrow), whereas
Ca2+/CaM increased by LTP-inducing protocols
primarily stimulates CaM-KII and/or PKC. Synaptic substrates
phosphorylated by CaM-KII and PKC contribute to synaptic potentiation;
the phosphorylation of IP3 and ryanodine receptors by
CaM-KII and PKC further facilitate Ca2+ release from
intracellular stores and activation of Ca2+/CaM
pathways. The decreased dephosphorylation of synaptic substrates during
CaN inhibition shifts the equilibrium to phosphorylation for synaptic
potentiation. Asterisks, Endogenous CBP;
AMPA-R, AMPA receptors; light gray
arrows, dephosphorylation. This scheme is supported by our
results using postsynaptic co-injections of inhibitors that block these
cascades (see text) (Wang and Kelly, 1995 , 1996a ).
[View Larger Version of this Image (92K GIF file)]
One could argue that CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation only results
from basal CaM-KII/PKC activities (Ocorr and Schulman, 1991 ; Huber,
1995) instead of from an absolute increase in their activities by
positive feedback. Because inhibiting postsynaptic CaM-KII/PKC
activities does not significantly alter basal synaptic transmission
(Tsien et al., 1990 ; Feng and Wang, 1992 ; Wang and Kelly, 1996 ), basal
CaM-KII/PKC activities are not high enough to strengthen synaptic
transmission. In addition, tetanus LTP is associated with increases of
protein kinase activities (Akers et al., 1986 ; Fukunaga et al., 1993 ),
and CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation, which requires CaM-KII/PKC
activities, is larger than tetanus LTP (Wang and Kelly, 1996 ). We
suggest that basal CaM-KII and PKC activities may not be the major
contributor to the large synaptic potentiation induced by inhibiting
CaN activity. Instead, our results suggest that inhibiting CaN not only
shifts the equilibrium between protein kinase and phosphatase
activities to favor the phosphorylation of substrates responsible for
synaptic transmission but, more importantly, triggers positive-feedback cascades that produce long-term increases in synaptic strength.
Postsynaptic application of CaN inhibitors prevented the induction of
LTD (Mulkey et al., 1993 , 1994 ), LTP, and synaptic disinhibition (Wang
and Stelzer, 1994 , 1996 ) in young animals without changing basal
synaptic transmission. Why do postsynaptic injections of CaN inhibitors
not induce synaptic potentiation in young animals? Examining the
effect(s) of inhibiting CaN on excitatory synaptic transmission in CA1
neurons of hippocampal slices from young rats (14-21 d old), we
observed that postsynaptic injections of FK-506 did not induce synaptic
potentiation and prevented tetanus LTP (Fig. 2B). The
inability of FK-506 to induce potentiation at this age may be
attributable to CaN and/or FKBPs being functionally immature, because
CaN expression (activity and protein mass) dramatically increases
during P10-21 and reaches plateau levels by P24 Polli et al., 1991 ;
Tallant and Cheung, 1983 ), and the developmental expression of FKBP-12
parallels CaN (P. Kelly and J.-H. Wang, unpublished observations).
Therefore, we postulate that CaN activity limits synaptic transmission
at basal levels only after CaN and FKBP expression is mature and they
are functionally co-localized. Why does inhibiting CaN activity in
young animals produce multiple results, i.e., prevent induction of LTD,
LTP, and synaptic disinhibition (LTD of inhibitory synapses by
tetanus)? We propose that although the developing pattern of
Ca2+-dependent protein kinases in brain is similar
to that for CaN, their expression is not synchronous (Turner et al.,
1984 ; Kelly and Vernon, 1985 ; Kelly et al., 1987 ; Hashimoto, 1988;
Yoshida et al., 1988 ; Hirata et al., 1991 ) such that shifting the
equilibrium between kinases and CaN in postnatal versus adult brain
produces different effects on synaptic plasticity. CaN activity may
play a dual role in synaptic plasticity during postnatal development and is required for LTD and LTP. In terms of physiological
significance, the role of CaN activity in excitatory synaptic
potentiation and inhibitory synaptic depression may facilitate the
excitatory output of neurons.
Our results indicate that CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation requires
Ca2+ release from intracellular stores by
IP3 and ryanodine receptor channels, but not influx via
NMDA receptor channels. Because tetanus LTP at CA1 synapses requires
NMDA receptor activation (Collingridge et al., 1983a ,b ), one could
argue that CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation is mechanistically
different from tetanus LTP. Because CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation
occludes LTP (Figs. 1, 2A), we suggest that they
share common mechanisms. This suggestion is supported in that
postsynaptic injections of heparin and dantrolene attenuate
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation (Fig. 4C) and prevent LTP induction (data not shown), and bath application of dantrolene blocked tetanus LTP (Obenaus et al., 1989 ). At mechanistic levels, how
do we explain the similarities and differences between CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation and tetanus LTP? Although positive results from
occlusion experiments suggest that two forms of synaptic potentiation
share common mechanisms (Malenka et al., 1986 ; Gustafsson et al., 1988 ;
Muller et al., 1988 ; Wang and Feng, 1992 ; Wang and Kelly, 1995 ), this
does not mean that they are identical at every step in sequential
and/or parallel pathways. The best understanding of occlusion results
is that the mechanisms underlying two forms of synaptic potentiation
are "common" only in the final key expression element(s).
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation starts at Ca2+
and Ca2+/CaM and employs downstream targets (e.g.,
CaM-KII, PKC and IP3 receptors), which are essential for
tetanus LTP. Thus, CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation and tetanus LTP
share common signaling pathways beginning with increased intracellular
Ca2+ and Ca2+/CaM to their final
expression element(s) through multiple postsynaptic protein kinase
cascades.
Tetanic stimulation given 32-60 min after CaN-inhibited synaptic
potentiation does not induce additional synaptic potentiation (Figs. 1,
2A). However, tetanus after 4 min of injecting CaN
inhibitor increases the magnitude of tetanus LTP (Wang and Kelly,
1996a ). We postulate that the postsynaptic injection of FK-506 for 4 min results in partial inhibition of CaN activity and small synaptic potentiation, which is not sufficient to initiate secondary mechanisms such as Ca2+ release from intracellular stores.
Under this condition, tetanic stimulation activates protein kinases and
induces larger synaptic potentiation than tetanus LTP. The injection of
FK-506 over 30 min produces substantial inhibition of CaN and secondary
activation of protein kinases to induce large synaptic potentiation.
Under this situation, additional kinase activation by tetanus does not enhance synaptic potentiation but causes depotentiation. Thus, the
different ratios of postsynaptic protein kinase and phosphatase activities may determine the efficiency of an individual synapse as
well as the percentage of sampled synapses that actually express plasticity (potentiation or depotentiation).
Our model may also explain why CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation is
greater than tetanus LTP (Wang and Kelly, 1996a ), although one could
argue that tetanus LTP induced by our protocols does not reach
saturation (i.e., the percentage of sampled synapses that are
potentiated by tetanus is lower than that by inhibiting CaN activity).
Based on the understandings that protein kinase activities play a
critical role in synaptic potentiation and that the percentage of
potentiated synapses is determined by the phosphorylation of synaptic
substrates, the higher ratio of CaM-KII and PKC to CaN activities
produced by inhibiting CaN relative to tetanus increases the proportion
of potentiated synapses for a larger synaptic potentiation. However, if
the percentage of potentiated synapses in tetanus LTP or CaN-inhibited
synaptic potentiation is constant, then higher kinase activities during
CaN inhibition enhance synaptic strength to a greater degree at each
synapse.
Tetanic stimulation produced partial depotentiation of CaN-inhibited
synaptic potentiation (Figs. 1, 2A); this
depotentiation did not occur in D-AP5 (Fig. 4A). This
indicates that NMDA receptor activation by tetanus during CaN-inhibited
synaptic potentiation is responsible for the synaptic depotentiation.
Because NMDA receptor activation is essential for induction of tetanus
LTP under basal conditions (Collingridge et al., 1983 ), why does
tetanus induce synaptic depotentiation during CaN-inhibited synaptic
potentiation? Studies showed that phosphatase inhibitors enhance
current through a single NMDA receptor channel (Lieberman and Mody,
1994 ; Wang and Salter, 1994 ; Wang et al., 1994 ) and CaN activated by
Ca2+ influx shortens opening time of NMDA channels
(Lieberman and Mody, 1994 ). Although our results show that
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation does not depend on NMDA receptor
channels for Ca2+, inhibiting postsynaptic CaN
activity may facilitate NMDA receptor activity. Thus, tetanic
stimulation during CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation may evoke
excessive NMDA receptor activity and massive Ca2+
influx. Such a great increase in intracellular Ca2+
may produce Ca2+-dependent inhibition of
Ca2+ release by IP3 and ryanodine
receptor channels (Bootman and Berridge, 1995 ; Ehrlich, 1995 ; Furuichi
and Mikoshiba, 1995 ; Simpson et al., 1995 ) and/or neurotoxicity
attributable to the superactivities of protein kinases (Meldrum and
Garthwaite, 1990 ), which contribute to the depotentiation of
CaN-inhibited synaptic potentiation.
CaN also dephosphorylates type II regulatory subunits of cAMP-dependent
protein kinase, inhibitor-1 (I-1) of PrP-1, microtubule-associated proteins, and neuromodulin (Klee, 1991 ), which may indirectly affect
synaptic plasticity. Thus, the equilibrium between CaN and CaM-KII/PKC
activities may constitute a pivotal balance in regulating synaptic
transmission. Phosphorylated I-1 actively inhibits PrP-1, whereas the
dephosphorylation of I-1 by CaN increases PrP-1 activity, which
dephosphorylates substrate proteins at synapses (Shields et al., 1985 ).
Thus, inhibiting CaN will also decrease PrP-1 activity, and the
attenuation of two phosphatase pathways during CaN-inhibited synaptic
potentiation may synergistically facilitate the phosphorylation of
substrate proteins that contribute to very large synaptic
potentiation.
FOOTNOTES
Received Nov. 20, 1996; revised March 20, 1997; accepted April 2, 1997.
This study was supported by Nation Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke Grant NS-32470. We thank Dr. J. Aronowski for CaM, Dr.
Randall Kincaid for CaN-AIP, and Dr. Stan Stepkowski for FK-506 and
rapamycin. We also thank Drs. Neal Waxham and Robert Malenka for
critical reading and helpful comments on this manuscript before
submission.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Paul T. Kelly, Department of
Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Medical School at
Houston, P.O. Box 20708, Houston, TX 77225.
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