| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
Vollum Institute, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, Oregon 97201
Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Victor A. Derkach, Vollum Institute L-474, Oregon Health Sciences University, 3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd., Portland, OR 97201. Tel.: 503-494-6904, Fax: 503-494-4534, E-mail: derkachv{at}ohsu.edu.
| ABSTRACT |
|---|
|
|
|---|
| INTRODUCTION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Here I propose such an approach, silence analysis, and apply it to an important problem of modern neurosciencethe regulation of AMPA-type glutamate receptors by CaM-KII. This kinase is crucial for the enhanced strength of glutamate synapses during long-term potentiation (LTP; see Malinow et al., 1989
; Silva et al., 1992
; Giese et al., 1998
), a cellular model for memory and learning. The activity of CaM-KII increases upon induction of LTP (Fukunaga et al., 1993
, Barria et al., 1997a
) and one of major substrates for this kinase in the postsynaptic density is the GluR1 subunit of AMPA receptors (McGlade-McCulloh et al., 1993
; Barria et al., 1997a
; Lee et al., 2000
; Yoshimura et al., 2000
) phosphorylated at Ser831 on the C-terminus. (Barria et al., 1997b
; Mammen et al., 1997
; Lee et al., 2000
; Huang et al., 2001
). This phosphorylation results in increased channel conductance of GluR1 AMPA receptor (Derkach et al., 1999
), and is reminiscent of the increased conductance of postsynaptic AMPA receptors during LTP (Benke et al., 1998
) or upon elevation of CaM-KII activity in CA1 pyramidal neurons (Poncer et al., 2002
). These data on the regulation of AMPA receptors by CaM-KII have been previously obtained through variance and single-channel analyses, which were performed, however, under different experimental conditions. In the present study, the receptor regulation is tested independently and nonambiguously: by applying silence analysis to the GluR1 AMPA receptor mutated at the CaM-KII site, and by concurrent application of silence and variance analyses to the same sets of data.
| METHODS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Analyses
A total of 3799 trials were performed on individual patches to collect data for concurrent application of silence or nonstationary variance analyses. For both techniques, experimental data were fitted by theoretical functions using Chi-square minimization procedure (KaleidaGraph, Synergy Software, Reading, PA). The relationship between the variance, var, of macroscopic current fluctuations and the mean current, I, was fitted by the function (Sigworth, 1980
),
![]() | (1) |
![]() | (2) |
![]() | (3) |
For silence analysis (described in the text, Fig. 1), the threshold for detection of single-channel openings was set at 3
of background noise to minimize its contribution to the estimated silence factor. The actual contribution of false events related to the noise was measured in the absence of glutamate applications using deflections of noise opposite in polarity to the channel activity. It was less than 1% of the total number of detected events, and its contribution to the silent factor was regarded as negligible.
|
|
|
|
| RESULTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
![]() | (4) |
![]() | (5) |
This equation can be also expressed as a function of macroscopic current I after substitution for Po from Eq. 2:
![]() | (6) |
Two channel parameters, i and N, can be found then upon fitting S values by Eq. 6, and Po can be calculated using Eq. 2. Note, the initial slope of S factor carries information on single-channel current.
![]() | (7) |
Critically, Eq. 6 cannot be obtained by a combination of Eqs. 1 and 2, indicating silence analysis is independent of variance analysis.
Measuring S factor and channel parameters
For a population of channels, their probability to be simultaneously silent at a particular moment of time was calculated as a relative frequency of finding all of the channels closed. An example of calculations of S factor for actual channel activity is shown on Fig. 1. Activity of GluR1 AMPA receptors was evoked in an outside-out patch by repetitive applications of 10 mM glutamate (Fig. 1 A). In each trial, for those periods of time when all channels were simultaneously closed (no events above the threshold of detection), the value of S(t) was assigned 1 (successful event) and 0 otherwise (failure) (Fig. 1 B, upper traces in each pair). S factor was calculated then as a weighted value of S(t), upon averaging of S(t) for each time point across multiple trials (Fig. 1 C, upper trace). Channel properties were found upon fitting the relationship between S factor and the macroscopic current by Eq. 6 with i and N as free parameters (Fig. 1 D, solid line). Po was calculated then from Eq. 2.
Thus, all three values, i, N, and Po can be determined without knowledge of the power of fluctuations of macroscopic current, which would be required for variance analysis. That suggests silence analysis as a new and alternative tool for evaluation of channel properties.
Accuracy and limitations
Due to its nature, silence analysis puts certain requirements on the experimental situation. The approach assumes S factor is a measurable value, and that requires that during a macroscopic response all channels in a population will be temporary and simultaneously closed. As Eq. 5 states, such events in channel activity can be infrequent, if either the open probability or the number of functional channels is high. This may affect the accuracy of the silence factor calculations and thus measurements of channel parameters. Therefore, I tested silence analysis in more detail, under variable and controllable conditions provided by modeling experiments (Figs. 2 and 3, see Experimental Procedures). I was particularly interested to see how well the approach performs at low versus high open probability and with a variable number of channels in a population. Deviation of each estimated parameter from its modeling value was calculated as an estimation error. The method was particularly precise in measuring single-channel current (the error was between 1% and 8%) independently of experimental conditions (Fig. 3, A and B). Calculations of N and Po were also close to the model (the error ranged from 1% to 28%) as long as open probability was low or channel population was small (10 channels or below, Fig. 3, AC). However, for a high open probability (0.6) and increased population of channels (more than 10), the error became significant (49% for N and 125170% for Po, Fig. 3, B and C).
Overall, the approach was quite sensitive for the evaluation of channel conductance in a broad range of conditions, being more accurate and persistent than nonstationary variance analysis at low Po and small channel population (Fig. 3). It was also reliable for measuring of N and Po, if the number of channels in a population was small (
10 or less); whereas variance analysis became more accurate at a high Po and bigger channel population (Fig. 3). Therefore, to measure all three properties using both approaches simultaneously, I followed the requirement of small channel population by restricting the number of channels in my patch experiments to fewer than 1012. This reduced the number of suitable patches to 13 from the total of 49 analyzed.
Testing S831 mutants
I chose two mutants of the GluR1 receptor with either aspartate or alanine at position S831, the residue phosphorylated by CaM-KII during LTP in the CA1 region of hippocampus (Barria et al., 1997a
; Lee et al., 2000
; Huang et al., 2001
). These mutations functionally mimic the receptor either phosphorylated by CaM-KII or dephosphorylated at S831, respectively (Barria et al., 1997b
; Mammen et al., 1997
; Derkach et al., 1999
) and maximized the functional homogeneity of the receptor population in regard to the phosphorylation state of S831.
Silence analysis applied to the D831 mutant (Fig. 1 and Fig. 4 A) revealed that the single-channel conductance ranged from 20 pS to 31.8 pS, having an average value of 24.3 ± 1.4 pS (n = 7, Fig. 4 A). In contrast, single-channel conductance of the A831 mutant was significantly lower, having an average value of 12.8 ± 0.8 pS (p < 0.01, variations from 8.9 pS to 15.3 pS, Fig. 4 A). Channel open probabilities varied broadly for both mutants (Fig. 4 B), from 0.36 to 0.87 for the S831D mutant with an average value of 0.55 ± 0.07 (n = 7; coefficient of variation, CV = 0.31), and from 0.35 to 0.71 for the S831A mutant, with an average value of 0.54 ± 0.06 (n = 6, CV = 0.28, Fig. 4 B) and were not distinguishable (p = 0.42).
|
, Po, and N, as correlation coefficients were 0.92, 0.88, and 0.95 for
, Po, and N, respectively (Fig. 6). Ratios of values estimated by silence analysis to those by variance analysis were 1.01 ± 0.04, 0.96 ± 0.1 and 1.07 ± 0.04 for
, Po, and N, respectively (n = 13 for each parameter).
|
|
| DISCUSSION |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Although the present study demonstrates an application of silence analysis to nonstationary channel activity, there are no principal limitations to use it in equilibrium, for steady-state channel activity. The universal requirement would be the samesmall channel population.
AMPA receptor regulation by CaM-KII
This study presents new evidences for the mechanism of AMPA receptor regulation by CaM-KII. First, silence analysis independently shows that a negative charge at S831 of GluR1 receptor is critical for the enhanced efficiency of channel as a charge carrier, because of increased channel conductance. Second, the mechanism was scrutinized by simultaneous application of silence and variance analyses to the same sets of data. This eliminates the ambiguity of different experimental conditions previously used for variance and single-channel analyses to examine the regulation of the GluR1 AMPA receptor by CaM-KII (Derkach et al., 1999
). Because both approaches agree on the mechanism, this further strengthens the conclusion of how the AMPA receptor is regulated by CaM-KII mediated phosphorylation.
Results of this study strongly support the recent finding on the regulation of postsynaptic AMPA receptors by CaM-KII. Overexpression of constitutively active form of the kinase in CA1 pyramidal neurons of hippocampus resulted in increased single-channel conductance of synaptic AMPA receptors (assayed by variance analysis) to be apparently a major contributing mechanism to the enhanced synaptic strength, and this was accompanied by increased phosphorylation of the S831 (Poncer et al., 2002
). These observations are consistent with the increased channel conductance of synaptic AMPA receptors during LTP expression (Benke et al., 1998
; Luthi et al., 1999
). Silence analysis provides new and independent evidences for the molecular mechanism of AMPA receptor regulation by CaM-KII, and further strengthens the idea of how calcium-dependent phosphorylation of AMPA receptors can contribute to the plasticity at central glutamatergic synapses (Lisman et al., 1997
; Malenka and Nicoll, 1999
; Soderling and Derkach, 2000
).
AMPA channel multiconductance and synaptic strength
It becomes increasingly apparent that AMPA receptors can adopt multiple conductance states. This is true for native (Jahr and Stevens, 1987
; Cull-Candy and Usowicz, 1987
; Banke et al., 2000
; Smith et al., 2000
; Smith and Howe, 2000
) and recombinant receptors (Swanson et al., 1997
; Rosenmund et al., 1998
; Derkach et al., 1999
; Banke et al., 2000
). The functional significance for such channel multiconductance was unclear until recently. It was found that 1), LTP in the CA1 region of hippocampus is accompanied by an increased conductance of postsynaptic AMPA receptors in the majority of potentiated synapses (Benke et al., 1998
); and 2), the conductance of AMPA receptors can be increased by increasing the contribution of high conductance states to the channel activity. The latter can be achieved in two different ways, howevereither by increasing the receptor occupancy by agonist (Rosenmund et al., 1998
; Smith et al., 2000
; Smith and Howe, 2000
) or through receptor phosphorylation by CaM-KII (Derkach et al., 1999
, this study). These observations bring in focus two critical questions: whether postsynaptic AMPA receptors in CA1 synapses are saturated upon glutamate release (reviewed in Bergles et al., 1999
; Clements, 1996
; see also Liu et al., 1999
; McAllister and Stevens, 2000
) and what is the phosphorylation status of postsynaptic AMPA receptors before and after LTP induction (reviewed in Swope et al., 1999
; Soderling and Derkach, 2000
; see also Lee et al., 2000
; Huang et al., 2001
). Although other mechanisms for the regulation of synaptic strength should be also considered (Malinow et al., 2000
; Luscher et al., 1999
; Sheng and Lee, 2001
; Huber et al., 2000
; Liu and Cull-Candy, 2000
; Linden, 2001
), the data presently collected in the field strongly indicate that the increase in AMPA receptor conductance mediated by CaM-KII is one of the major contributors to LTP in CA1 hippocampal synapses (Lisman et al., 1997
; Malenka and Nicoll, 1999
; Lisman et al., 2002
; Poncer et al., 2002
). Interestingly, this regulation of synaptic strength is specific for a particular form of plasticity because AMPA receptors are selectively phosphorylated at S831 during LTP but dephosphorylated at S845 during LTD (Lee et al., 2000
; Huang et al., 2001
) and this is accompanied by increased channel conductance during LTP (Benke et al., 1998
), but not LTD (Luthi et al., 1999
). One remaining question is, what is the relative contribution of the modified channel properties versus incorporation of new receptors for the enhanced synaptic strength?
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
|---|
|
|
|---|
I thank Drs. Craig Jahr, Jeff Diamond, Matt Jones, Laurence Trussell, Thomas Soderling, and Coleen Atkins for insightful discussions and critical reading.
This work has been supported by a grant from the Medical Research Foundation.
Submitted on June 13, 2002; accepted for publication November 7, 2002.
| REFERENCES |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Barria, A., D. Muller, V. Derkach, L. C. Griffith, and T. R. Soderling. 1997a. Regulatory phosphorylation of AMPA-type glutamate receptors by CaM-KII during long-term potentiation. Science. 276:20422045.
Barria, A., V. Derkach, and T. R. Soderling. 1997b. Identification of the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II regulatory phosphorylation site in the alpha-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionate-type glutamate receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 272:3272732730.
Benke, T. A., A. Luthi, J. T. Isaac, and G. L. Collingridge. 1998. Modulation of AMPA receptor unitary conductance by synaptic activity. Nature. 393:793797.[Medline]
Bergles, D. E., J. S. Diamond, and C. E. Jahr. 1999. Clearance of glutamate inside the synapse and beyond. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 9:293298.[Medline]
Clements, J. D. 1996. Transmitter time course in the synaptic cleft: its role in central synaptic function. Trends Neurosci. 19:163171.[Medline]
Colquhoun, D., and A. G. Hawkes. 1995. The principles of the stochastic interpretation of ion-channel mechanisms. In Single-Channel Recordings. B. Sakmann, and E. Neher, editors. Plenum, New York. pp397482.
Colquhoun, D., and F. J. Sigworth. 1995. Fitting and statistical analysis of single-channel records. In Single-Channel Recordings. B. Sakmann, and E. Neher, editors. Plenum, New York. pp483587.
Cull-Candy, S. G., and M. M. Usowicz. 1987. Multiple-conductance channels activated by excitatory amino acids in cerebellar neurons. Nature. 325:525528.[Medline]
Derkach, V., A. Barria, and T. R. Soderling. 1999. Ca2+/calmodulin-KII enhances channel conductance of alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate type glutamate receptors. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 96:32693274.
Fukunaga, K., L. Stoppini, E. Miyamoto, and D. Muller. 1993. Long-term potentiation is associated with an increased activity of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. J. Biol. Chem. 268:78637867.
Giese, K. P., N. B. Fedorov, R. K. Filipkowski, and A. J. Silva. 1998. Autophosphorylation at Thr286 of the alpha calcium-calmodulin kinase II in LTP and learning. Science. 279:870873.
Hamill, O. P., A. Marty, E. Neher, B. Sakmann, and F. J. Sigworth. 1981. Improved patch-clamp techniques for high-resolution current recording from cells and cell-free membrane patches. Pflugers Arch. 391:85100.[Medline]
Horn, R. 1991. Estimating the number of channels in patch recordings. Biophys. J. 60:433439.
Huang, C. C., Y. C. Liang, and K. S. Hsu. 2001. Characterization of the mechanism underlying the reversal of long term potentiation by low frequency stimulation at hippocampal CA1 synapses. J. Biol. Chem. 276:4810848117.
Huber, K. M., M. S. Kayser, and M. F. Bear. 2000. Role for rapid dendritic protein synthesis in hippocampal mGluR-dependent long-term depression. Science. 288:12541257.
Jahr, C. E., and C. F. Stevens. 1987. Glutamate activates multiple single channel conductances in hippocampal neurons. Nature. 325:522525.[Medline]
Katz, B., and R. Miledi. 1970. Membrane noise produced by acetylcholine. Nature. 226:962963.[Medline]
Lee, H. K., M. Barbarosie, K. Kameyama, M. F. Bear, and R. L. Huganir. 2000. Regulation of distinct AMPA receptor phosphorylation sites during bidirectional synaptic plasticity. Nature. 405:955959.[Medline]
Linden, D. J. 2001. The expression of cerebellar LTD in culture is not associated with changes in AMPA- receptor kinetics, agonist affinity, or unitary conductance. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 98:1406614071.
Lisman, J., R. C. Malenka, R. A. Nicoll, and R. Malinow. 1997. Learning mechanisms: the case for CaM-KII. Science. 276:20012002.
Lisman, J., H. Schulman, and H. Cline. 2002. The molecular basis of CaMKII function in synaptic and behavioral memory. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3:175190.[Medline]
Liu, G., S. Choi, and R. W. Tsien. 1999. Variability of neurotransmitter concentration and nonsaturation of postsynaptic AMPA receptors at synapses in hippocampal cultures and slices. Neuron. 22:395409.[Medline]
Liu, S. Q., and S. G. Cull-Candy. 2000. Synaptic activity at calcium-permeable AMPA receptors induces a switch in receptor subtype. Nature. 405:454458.[Medline]
Luscher, C., H. Xia, E. C. Beattie, R. C. Carroll, M. von Zastrow, R. C. Malenka, and R. A. Nicoll. 1999. Role of AMPA receptor cycling in synaptic transmission and plasticity. Neuron. 24:649658.[Medline]
Luthi, A., R. Chittajallu, F. Duprat, M. J. Palmer, T. A. Benke, F. L. Kidd, J. M. Henley, J. T. Isaac, and G. L. Collingridge. 1999. Hippocampal LTD expression involves a pool of AMPARs regulated by the NSF-GluR2 interaction. Neuron. 24:288290.[Medline]
Malenka, R. C., and R. A. Nicoll. 1999. Long-term potentiationa decade of progress? Science. 285:18701874.
Malinow, R., H. Schulman, and R. W. Tsien. 1989. Inhibition of postsynaptic PKC or CaMKII blocks induction but not expression LTP. Science. 245:862866.
Malinow, R., Z. F. Mainen, and Y. Hayashi. 2000. LTP mechanisms: from silence to four-lane traffic. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 10:352357.[Medline]
Mammen, A. L., K. Kameyama, K. W. Roche, and R. L. Huganir. 1997. Phosphorylation of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole4-propionic acid receptor GluR1 subunit by calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II. J. Biol. Chem. 272:3252832533.
McAllister, A. K., and C. F. Stevens. 2000. Nonsaturation of AMPA and NMDA receptors at hippocampal synapses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 97:61736178.
McGlade-McCulloh, E., H. Yamamoto, S. E. Tan, D. A. Brickey, and T. R. Soderling. 1993. Phosphorylation and regulation of glutamate receptors by calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Nature. 362:640642.[Medline]
Mosbacher, J., R. Schoepfer, H. Monyer, N. Burnashev, P. H. Seeburg, and J. P. Ruppersberg. 1994. A molecular determinant for submillisecond desensitization in glutamate receptors. Science. 266:10591062.
Partin, K. M., M. W. Fleck, and M. L. Mayer. 1996. AMPA receptor flip/flop mutants affecting deactivation, desensitization, and modulation by cyclothiazide, aniracetam, and thiocyanate. J. Neurosci. 16:66346647.
Poncer, J. C., J. A. Esteban, and R. Malinow. 2002. Multiple mechanisms for the potentiation of AMPA receptor-mediated transmission by alpha-Ca2+/Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. J. Neurosci. 22:44064411.
Rosenmund, C., Y. Stern-Bach, and C. F. Stevens. 1998. The tetrameric structure of a glutamate receptor channel. Science. 280:15961599.
Sheng, M., and S. H. Lee. 2001. AMPA receptor trafficking and the control of synaptic transmission. Cell. 105:825828.[Medline]
Sigworth, F. J. 1980. The conductance of sodium channels under conditions of reduced current at the node of Ranvier. J. Physiol. (Lond.). 307:131142.
Silva, A. J., C. F. Stevens, S. Tonegawa, and Y. Wang. 1992. Deficient hippocampal long-term potentiation in alpha-calcium-calmodulin kinase II mutant mice. Science. 257:201206.
Smith, T. C., L. Y. Wang, and J. R. Howe. 2000. Heterogeneous conductance levels of native AMPA receptors. J. Neurosci. 20:20732085.
Smith, T. C., and J. R. Howe. 2000. Concentration-dependent substrate behavior of native AMPA receptors. Nat. Neurosci. 3:992997.[Medline]
Soderling, T. R., and V. A. Derkach. 2000. Postsynaptic protein phosphorylation and LTP. Trends Neurosci. 23:7580.[Medline]
Swanson, G. T., S. K. Kamboj, and S. G. Cull-Candy. 1997. Single-channel properties of recombinant AMPA receptors depend on RNA editing, splice variation, and subunit composition. J. Neurosci. 17:5869.
Swope, S. L., S. I. Moss, L. A. Raymond, and R. L. Huganir. 1999. Regulation of ligand-gated ion channels by protein phosphorylation. Adv. Second Messenger Phosphoprotein Res. 33:4978.[Medline]
Traynelis, S. F., R. A. Silver, and S. G. Cull-Candy. 1993. Estimated conductance of glutamate receptor channels activated during EPSCs at the cerebellar mossy fiber-granule cell synapse. Neuron. 11:279289.[Medline]
Yoshimura, Y., C. Aoi, and T. Yamauchi. 2000. Investigation of protein substrates of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II translocated to the postsynaptic density. Brain Res. Mol. Brain Res. 81:118128.[Medline]
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
E. S. Guire, M. C. Oh, T. R. Soderling, and V. A. Derkach Recruitment of Calcium-Permeable AMPA Receptors during Synaptic Potentiation Is Regulated by CaM-Kinase I J. Neurosci., June 4, 2008; 28(23): 6000 - 6009. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. M. Vanhoose, J. M. Clements, and D. G. Winder Novel Blockade of Protein Kinase A-Mediated Phosphorylation of AMPA Receptors J. Neurosci., January 25, 2006; 26(4): 1138 - 1145. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. C. Oh, V. A. Derkach, E. S. Guire, and T. R. Soderling Extrasynaptic Membrane Trafficking Regulated by GluR1 Serine 845 Phosphorylation Primes AMPA Receptors for Long-term Potentiation J. Biol. Chem., January 13, 2006; 281(2): 752 - 758. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. L. Palmer, L. Cotton, and J. M. Henley The Molecular Pharmacology and Cell Biology of {alpha}-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic Acid Receptors Pharmacol. Rev., June 1, 2005; 57(2): 253 - 277. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |