Protein kinase A regulates calcium permeability of NMDA receptors

Nat Neurosci. 2006 Apr;9(4):501-10. doi: 10.1038/nn1664. Epub 2006 Mar 12.

Abstract

Calcium (Ca2+) influx through NMDA receptors (NMDARs) is essential for synaptogenesis, experience-dependent synaptic remodeling and plasticity. The NMDAR-mediated rise in postsynaptic Ca2+ activates a network of kinases and phosphatases that promote persistent changes in synaptic strength, such as long-term potentiation (LTP). Here we show that the Ca2+ permeability of neuronal NMDARs is under the control of the cyclic AMP-protein kinase A (cAMP-PKA) signaling cascade. PKA blockers reduced the relative fractional Ca2+ influx through NMDARs as determined by reversal potential shift analysis and by a combination of electrical recording and Ca2+ influx measurements in rat hippocampal neurons in culture and hippocampal slices from mice. In slices, PKA blockers markedly inhibited NMDAR-mediated Ca2+ rises in activated dendritic spines, with no significant effect on synaptic current. Consistent with this, PKA blockers depressed the early phase of NMDAR-dependent LTP at hippocampal Schaffer collateral-CA1 (Sch-CA1) synapses. Our data link PKA-dependent synaptic plasticity to Ca2+ signaling in spines and thus provide a new mechanism whereby PKA regulates the induction of LTP.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Barium / metabolism
  • Calcium / metabolism*
  • Cell Membrane Permeability
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cyclic AMP / metabolism
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / metabolism*
  • Hippocampus / cytology
  • Humans
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Long-Term Potentiation / physiology
  • Neurons / cytology
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / physiology
  • Synapses / metabolism*

Substances

  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • Barium
  • Cyclic AMP
  • Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases
  • Calcium