Voltage-dependent L-type calcium channels in the development and plasticity of mouse barrel cortex

Hippocampal plasticity in rats submitted to a gastric restrictive procedure

Bariatric surgery has been the most effective therapeutic intervention for morbidly obese patients. However, recent evidence has shown that this procedure may cause serious neurological complications such as Wernicke encephalopathy, depression, and memory impairment. With this in mind, we conducted an experimental study to investigate whether weight-reduction surgery would promote morphological changes in the hippocampal formation, a brain region linked to cognitive and emotional processes. To do so, the present study evaluated the hippocampal expression of parvalbumin interneurons in rats submitted to a gastric restrictive procedure (experimental phytobezoar). Our results demonstrated that rats with gastric-reduced capacity presented a significant increase in the expression of the parvalbumin interneurons in the hippocampal CA1 and CA3 subfields. These data are the first experimental evidence that restrictive bariatric surgery may alter hippocampal cytoarchitecture.

Calcium flux in neuroblastoma cells is a coupling mechanism between non-genomic and genomic modes of estrogens

Estrogens have been demonstrated to rapidly modulate calcium levels in a variety of cell types. However, the significance of estrogen-mediated calcium flux in neuronal cells is largely unknown. The relative importance of intra- and extracellular sources of calcium in estrogenic effects on neurons is also not well understood. Previously, we have demonstrated that membrane-limited estrogens, such as E-BSA given before an administration of a 2-hour pulse of 17beta-estradiol (E2), can potentiate the transcription mediated by E2 from a consensus estrogen response element (ERE)-driven reporter gene. Inhibitors to signal transduction cascades given along with E-BSA or E2 demonstrated that calcium flux is important for E-BSA-mediated potentiation of transcription in a transiently transfected neuroblastoma cell line. In this report, we have used inhibitors to different voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) and to intracellular store receptors along with E-BSA in the first pulse or with E2 in the second pulse to investigate the relative importance of these channels to estrogen-mediated transcription. Neither L- nor P-type VGCCs seem to play a role in estrogen action in these cells; while N-type VGCCs are important in both the non-genomic and genomic modes of estrogen action. Specific inhibitors also showed that the ryanodine receptor and the inositol trisphosphate receptor are important to E-BSA-mediated transcriptional potentiation. This report provides evidence that while intracellular stores of calcium are required to couple non-genomic actions of estrogen initiated at the membrane to transcription in the nucleus, extracellular sources of calcium are also important in both non-genomic and genomic actions of estrogens.

Maturational change of KCl-induced Ca2+ increase in the rat brain synaptosomes

To investigate maturational change in the susceptibility of voltage-dependent calcium (Ca2+) channels (VDCC) in the brain to excessive depolarization, which is likely to occur during hypoxia or ischemia, we studied depolarization-induced increases in Ca2+ concentration in cortical synaptosomes ([Ca2+]i) obtained from young (8, 15, 22, 36, and 43-day-old) and adult rats using fura 2-AM as a Ca2+ indicator. The effects of Ca2+ antagonists on the increase were also studied. The maximal increase in [Ca2+]i caused by 50 mM KCl-induced depolarization was significantly lower in 8-day-old rats (73.3 nM) compared with that in adult rats (133.6 nM). On the other hand, the time necessary for [Ca2+]i to decrease to 50% of its maximal level (tau) was significantly shorter in immature rats compared with that in adult rats and was particularly short in 8- and 15-day-old rats (0.28 and 0.40 min vs. 3.85 for adult rats). The maximal increase in [Ca2+]i in 22-day-old rats and tau in adult rats were markedly reduced by verapamil, omega-agatoxin IVA, and omega-conotoxin GVIA (antagonists of L-, P-, and N-type Ca2+ channels, respectively) to similar extents, while a mixture of the three antagonists markedly decreased both maximal increase and tau in 8- and 22-day-old and adult rats. These results indicate that depolarization-induced Ca2+ influx through VDCCs in immature rat brain is less pronounced than that in adult rats, and suggest that the susceptibility of all of L-, N-, and P-type Ca2+ channels is increased during maturation in the first few weeks after birth. This lower susceptibility to depolarization might be involved in the resistance to hypoxia in immature animals.

NMDA receptors in mouse barrel cortex during normal development and following vibrissectomy

The development of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors and the effects of vibrissectomy upon [3H]MK-801 binding were examined in the barrel cortex of mice. Autoradiographic studies showed that initially very low binding of [3H]MK-801 sharply increased during the second postnatal week reaching the adult level by the end of the third week. Scatchard analysis performed on cortical membrane preparations indicated that this rise of [3H]MK-801 labelling was due to an increase in the number of binding sites and a decrease of Kd at postnatal day 15 and 28. The interlaminar differences of labelling were registered from postnatal day 8. Changes of interlaminar distribution were found during the second and third postnatal weeks. In adult barrel cortex the highest binding was found in supragranular layers. In layer IV of the cortex, the pattern of binding resembled the pattern of barrels. Unilateral denervation of vibrissae performed in neonatal and adult mice did not alter the intensity of [3H]MK-801 labelling or the laminar distribution of binding sites. These results suggest that NMDA receptor binding does not reflect the plastic changes occurring in the barrel cortex.

Synaptic input-induced increase in intraneuronal Ca2+ in the medial vestibular nucleus of young rats

In the medial vestibular nucleus (MVN), an input-dependent influx of Ca2+ into neurons through N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-linked channels and/or voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels is suggested as underlying certain mechanisms of plasticity of the vestibular system. To see whether there is an increase in intracellular Ca2+ induced by afferent synaptic inputs to MVN neurons, we measured changes in [Ca2+]i with microfluorometry using a Ca2+ indicator, rhod-2, following electrical stimulation of ipsilateral vestibular afferents and commissural fibers in slice preparations of the brainstem of young rats (4-7 days postnatal). Single shock stimulation of ipsilateral afferents or commissural fibers induced an increase in fluorescence intensity lasting for several seconds. An application of 2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid (APV), an antagonist of NMDA receptors, almost completely blocked this stimulus-induced rise in fluorescence intensity. Nifedipine, an L-type Ca2+ channel blocker, also reduced the stimulus-induced rise in fluorescence intensity to 44-51% of the control value. These results suggest that synaptic inputs from the afferent and commissural pathways induce an influx of Ca2+ into MVN neurons due, at least in part, to the activation of NMDA receptors and the subsequent operation of L-type Ca2+ channels in young rats.

Reduction of GABAA receptor binding of [3H]muscimol in the barrel field of mice after peripheral denervation: transient and long-lasting effects

The effect of peripheral sensory deprivation upon GABAA receptor binding of [3H]muscimol was investigated in the barrel cortex--cortical representation of mystacial vibrissae of mice--by means of in vitro quantitative autoradiography. Unilateral lesions of all vibrissae or selected rows of whiskers were performed neonatally or in adulthood. [3H]muscimol binding was examined after various survival times up to 60 days. Both types of lesions performed in adult mice resulted in a transient decrease (10-25%) of binding values in the deafferented areas of the barrel field as compared with the unoperated control side. Sixty days after denervation [3H]muscimol binding returned to control values. Similar results were found after neonatal removal of all vibrissae. Neonatal lesion of selected rows of vibrissae, however, resulted in a decrease of [3H]muscimol binding (by about 26%) lasting up to 60 days in corresponding rows of barrels. This last result was accompanied by severe cytoarchitectonic malformation of the barrel field. The results support the hypothesis that a decrease of inhibition plays a facilitatory role in the plastic reorganization of cortical circuitry.

Rapid isolation of tissue-specific and developmentally regulated brain cDNAs using RNA arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR)

RNA arbitrarily primed PCR (RAP-PCR) was used to isolate cDNAs that represent developmentally regulated brain-specific genes. Five clones with a restricted pattern of expression were identified and sequenced. Four cDNAs had no obvious homology to the sequences in GenBank. One clone had over 95% homology to a Ca2+/calmodulin-insensitive adenylyl cyclase, a recently cloned gene that was isolated from rat brain and was shown to be expressed only in adult brain and lung. Two novel cDNAs were investigated further by Northern blot analysis and were found to be expressed differentially during development; their expression was confined to the forebrain in the adult mouse. Further characterization by in situ hybridization showed that the mRNA corresponding to one clone was localized to a limited number of differentiating functional structures in the developing nervous system. In the adult brain, this message is confined to the forebrain with the highest level of expression in the cortex. These data suggest that the product of this gene is involved in the establishment of neuronal networks during brain development and in synaptic plasticity in the mature cortex. This work demonstrates that RAP-PCR is a powerful method for the simultaneous detection of differences between multiple RNA populations and, as such, can be used to study differential gene expression in the brain.

Complex patterns of [125I]omega-conotoxin GVIA binding site expression during postnatal rat brain development

In the mature CNS, N-type calcium channels regulate neurotransmitter release. The role of these channels in developing brain is less clear. Study of [125I]omega-conotoxin GVIA binding sites in developing rat brain using autoradiography reveals that putative N-type channels appear and disappear in complex temporal-spatial profiles including: (1) gradual increase to adult levels (cerebral cortex); (2) substructure differentiation (cerebellum); (3) transient expression (pons); and, (4) selective depletion (medulla). Transient expression of N-type calcium channels may influence specific neurodevelopmental processes.

Development of NMDA receptor-channel complex and L-type calcium channels in mouse hippocampus

In vitro binding autoradiography was used to examine the pattern and intensity of binding of [3H]glutamate to NMDA receptors, [3H]MK 801 to NMDA receptor associated channels, and [3H]PN-200 110 to L-type calcium channels in the hippocampus of mice aged 3-70 days. The distribution of NMDA receptors and NMDA receptor associated channels was similar but not identical at the tested ages. Beginning with postnatal day 8, high binding levels were confined mostly to the hippocampal strata: the oriens and radiatum (CA1 and CA3 with [3H]MK 801 labeling but only CA1 with NMDA displaced [3H]glutamate labeling), the moleculare (higher labeling with [3H]MK 801 than with NMDA displaced [3H]glutamate binding), and the lucidum. The binding values for NMDA receptor-channel complex rose in the examined period (especially within the second and third week), reaching a plateau at the end of the third postnatal week. Sharp growth of binding within the second and third week of life was about 50% greater with [3H]MK 801 than with NMDA displaced [3H] glutamate labeling. L-type calcium channels were found to be most abundant in the strata: the oriens of the CA3 field, the moleculare, and the lucidum. The time course of binding value changes for the calcium channel was similar to the time course found for the NMDA receptor-channel complex.