Control of Cerebellar Long-Term Potentiation by P-Rex-Family Guanine-Nucleotide Exchange Factors and Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase

Long-term potentiation (LTP) at the parallel fibre-Purkinje cell synapse in the cerebellum is a recently described and poorly characterized form of synaptic plasticity. The induction mechanism for LTP at this synapse is considered reciprocal to "classical" LTP at hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: kinases promote increased trafficking of AMPA receptors into the postsynaptic density in the hippocampus, whereas phosphatases decrease internalization of AMPA receptors in the cerebellum. In the hippocampus, LTP occurs in overlapping phases, with the transition from early to late phases requiring the consolidation of initial induction processes by structural re-arrangements at the synapse. Many signalling pathways have been implicated in this process, including PI3 kinases and Rho GTPases.We hypothesized that analogous phases are present in cerebellar LTP, and took as the starting point for investigation our recent discovery that P-Rex--a Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor which is activated by PtdIns(3,4,5)P(3)--is highly expressed in mouse cerebellar Purkinje neurons and plays a role in motor coordination. We found that LTP evoked at parallel fibre synapses by 1 Hz stimulation or by NO donors was not sustained beyond 30 min when P-Rex was eliminated or Rac inhibited, suggesting that cerebellar LTP exhibits a late phase analogous to hippocampal LTP. In contrast, inhibition of PI3 kinase activity eliminated LTP at the induction stage.Our data suggest that a PI3K/P-Rex/Rac pathway is required for late phase LTP in the mouse cerebellum, and that other PI3K targets, which remain to be discovered, control LTP induction

Visualization of NMDA receptor–dependent AMPA receptor synaptic plasticity in vivo

Regulation of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) membrane trafficking plays a critical role in synaptic plasticity and learning and memory. However, how AMPAR trafficking occurs in vivo remains elusive. Using in vivo two-photon microscopy in the mouse somatosensory barrel cortex, we found that acute whisker stimulation leads to a significant increase in the surface expression of the AMPAR GluA1 subunit (sGluA1) in both spines and dendritic shafts and small increases in spine size. Interestingly, initial spine properties bias spine changes following whisker stimulation. Changes in spine sGluA1 are positively correlated with changes in spine size and dendritic shaft sGluA1 following whisker stimulation. The increase in spine sGluA1 evoked by whisker stimulation is NMDA receptor dependent and long lasting, similar to major forms of synaptic plasticity in the brain. These results reveal experience dependent AMPAR trafficking in real time and characterize, in vivo, a major form of synaptic plasticity in the brain