Induction of cerebellar long-term depression requires activation of calcineurin in Purkinje cells

Coexpression of calcineurin A and B subunits in various subcellular and synaptic compartments of cerebellar neurons and glia with particular abundance at parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses

Calcineurin (CN) is a Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase consisting of catalytic CNA and regulatory CNB subunits, and links activity-dependent Ca²⁺ signals to various neural functions. Here we studied CN expression in the mouse brain by producing subunit-specific probes and antibodies. Of five CN subunits. CNAα, CNAβ, and CNB1 mRNAs were predominantly expressed over the brain from early embryonic to adult stage, and all were high in the telencephalon and cerebellum. Protein localization was examined in the cerebellum by immunofluorescence with cellular and terminal markers and by preembedding silver-enhanced immunogold microscopy. CNB1 and CNAβ were co-distributed in subcellular and synaptic elements of various cerebellar neurons and glia, whereas CNAα was exclusive in granule cell elements, including parallel fiber terminals. The present study thus discloses that CNB1 subunit well coexists with one or two CNA subunits in various cerebellar compartments. Moreover, high CN contents are provided to parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses, i.e., CNAα, CNAβ, and CNB1 in their presynaptic side and CNAβ and CNB1 in their postsynaptic side. These findings will be the anatomical basis, at least partly, for the known regulatory roles of postsynaptic CNs in long-term depression and presynaptic CNs in transmitter release function.

A Multiomics Study To Unravel the Effects of Developmental Exposure to Endosulfan in Rats: Molecular Explanation for Sex-Dependent Effects

Exposure to low levels of environmental contaminants, including pesticides, induces neurodevelopmental toxicity. Environmental and food contaminants can reach the brain of the fetus, affecting brain development and leading to neurological dysfunction. The pesticide endosulfan is a persistent pollutant, and significant levels still remain detectable in the environment although its use is banned in some countries. In rats, endosulfan exposure during brain development alters motor activity, coordination, learning, and memory, even several months after uptake, and does so in a sex-dependent way. However, the molecular mechanisms driving these effects have not been studied in detail. In this work, we performed a multiomics study in cerebellum from rats exposed to endosulfan during embryonic development. Pregnant rats were orally exposed to a low dose (0.5 mg/kg) of endosulfan, daily, from gestational day 7 to postnatal day 21. The progeny was evaluated for cognitive and motor functions at adulthood. Expression of messenger RNA and microRNA genes, as well as protein and metabolite levels, were measured on cerebellar samples from males and females. An integrative analysis was conducted to identify altered processes under endosulfan effect. Effects between males and females were compared. Pathways significantly altered by endosulfan exposure included the phosphatidylinositol signaling system, calcium signaling, the cGMP-PKG pathway, the inflammatory and immune system, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, and GABA and taurine metabolism. Sex-dependent effects of endosulfan in the omics results that matched sex differences in cognitive and motor tests were found. These results shed light on the molecular basis of impaired neurodevelopment and contribute to the identification of new biomarkers of neurotoxicity.

Cerebellar long-term potentiation: cellular mechanisms and role in learning

Activity-dependent long-term plasticity of synaptic transmission, such as in long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), provides a cellular correlate of experience-driven learning. While at excitatory synapses in the hippocampus and neocortex LTP is seen as the primary learning mechanism, it has been widely assumed that cerebellar motor learning is mediated by LTD at parallel fiber (PF)-Purkinje cell synapses instead. However, recent work on mouse mutants with deficits in AMPA receptor internalization has demonstrated that motor learning can occur in the absence of LTD, suggesting that LTD is not essential. Another recent study has shifted attention toward LTP at PF synapses, showing that blockade of LTP severely affects motor learning. Here, we review the cellular and molecular events that are involved in LTP induction and discuss whether LTP might indeed play a more significant role in cerebellar learning than previously anticipated.

Oxidation-induced conformational changes in calcineurin determined by covalent labeling and tandem mass spectrometry

The Ca²⁺/calmodulin activated phosphatase, calcineurin, is inactivated by H₂O₂ or superoxide-induced oxidation, both in vivo and in vitro. However, the potential for global and/or local conformation changes occurring within calcineurin as a function of oxidative modification, that may play a role in the inactivation process, has not been examined. Here, the susceptibility of calcineurin methionine residues toward H₂O₂-induced oxidation were determined using a multienzyme digestion strategy coupled with capillary HPLC–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Then, regions within the protein complex that underwent significant conformational perturbation upon oxidative modification were identified by monitoring changes in the modification rates of accessible lysine residues between native and oxidized forms of calcineurin, using an amine-specific covalent labeling reagent, S,S′-dimethylthiobutanoylhydroxysuccinimide ester (DMBNHS), and tandem mass spectrometry. Importantly, methionine residues found to be highly susceptible toward oxidation, and the lysine residues exhibiting large increases in accessibility upon oxidation, were all located in calcineurin functional domains involved in Ca²⁺/CaM binding regulated calcineurin stimulation. These findings therefore provide initial support for the novel mechanistic hypothesis that oxidation-induced global and/or local conformational changes within calcineurin contribute to inactivation via (i) impairing the interaction between calcineurin A and calcineurin B, (ii) altering the low-affinity Ca²⁺ binding site in calcineurin B, (iii) inhibiting calmodulin binding to calcineurin A, and/or (iv) by altering the affinity between the calcineurin A autoinhibitory domain and the catalytic center.

Polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-3 impairs long-term depression in Purkinje neurons of SCA3 transgenic mouse by inhibiting HAT and impairing histone acetylation

Our previous study using a transgenic mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) reported that disease-causing ataxin-3-Q79 caused cerebellar malfunction by inducing transcriptional downregulation. Long-term depression (LTD) of parallel fiber-Purkinje neuron glutamatergic transmission is believed to be a cellular mechanism for motor learning and motor coordination in the cerebellum. Downregulated mRNA expression of calcineurin B, IP3-R1, myosin Va and PLC β4, which are required for the induction of cerebellar LTD, led to an impairment of LTD induction in Purkinje neurons of SCA3 transgenic mouse. Our study suggested that ataxin-3-Q79 caused hypoacetylation of cerebellar histone H3 or H4 by inhibiting the activity of histone acetyltransferase (HAT) without affecting the activity of histone deacetylase (HDAC). Consistent with the hypothesis that hypoacetylated H3 or H4 histone associated with promoter regions of downregulated genes is the molecular mechanism underlying ataxin-3-Q79-induced transcriptional repression, chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed hypoacetylation of H3 or H4 histone associated with the proximal promoter of downregulated calcineurin B, IP3-R1, myosin Va or PLC β4 gene in the cerebellum of SCA3 mouse. HDAC inhibitor sodium butyrate reversed ataxin-3-Q79-induced hypoacetylation of histone H3 or H4 associated with the proximal promoter of calcineurin B, IP3-R1, myosin Va or PLC β4 gene. Sodium butyrate also prevented ataxin-3-Q79-induced impairment of LTD induction in Purkinje neurons of SCA3 mice. Our results suggest that polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-3-Q79 impairs HAT activity, leading to histone hypoacetylation, downregulated expression of cerebellar genes required for LTD induction and impaired induction of cerebellar LTD in the SCA3 transgenic mouse.

Reevaluation of the role of parallel fiber synapses in delay eyeblink conditioning in mice using Cbln1 as a tool

The delay eyeblink conditioning (EBC) is a cerebellum-dependent type of associative motor learning. However, the exact roles played by the various cerebellar synapses, as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms, remain to be determined. It is also unclear whether long-term potentiation (LTP) or long-term depression (LTD) at parallel fiber (PF)–Purkinje cell (PC) synapses is involved in EBC. In this study, to clarify the role of PF synapses in the delay EBC, we used mice in which a gene encoding Cbln1 was disrupted (cbln1^-/- mice), which display severe reduction of PF–PC synapses. We showed that delay EBC was impaired in cbln1^-/- mice. Although PF-LTD was impaired, PF-LTP was normally induced in cbln1^-/- mice. A single recombinant Cbln1 injection to the cerebellar cortex in vivo completely, though transiently, restored the morphology and function of PF–PC synapses and delay EBC in cbln1^-/- mice. Interestingly, the cbln1^-/- mice retained the memory for at least 30 days, after the Cbln1 injection’s effect on PF synapses had abated. Furthermore, delay EBC memory could be extinguished even after the Cbln1 injection’s effect were lost. These results indicate that intact PF–PC synapses and PF-LTD, not PF-LTP, are necessary to acquire delay EBC in mice. In contrast, extracerebellar structures or remaining PF–PC synapses in cbln1^-/- mice may be sufficient for the expression, maintenance, and extinction of its memory trace.

Cerebellar LTD vs. motor learning-lessons learned from studying GluD2

Synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTD), is believed to underlie learning and memory processes in vivo. The cerebellum is an ideal brain region to obtain definitive proof for this hypothesis. The current belief is that the acquisition of motor learning is stored by LTD at the parallel fiber (PF)-Purkinje cell synapse in the cerebellar cortex. Recently, however, several lines of mutant mice that display normal motor learning in the absence of cerebellar LTD have been reported. A similar dichotomy between synaptic plasticity at the circuitry level and learning at the behavioral level has also been reported in the hippocampus. One possible explanation for this dichotomy is that compensatory pathways at the molecular and circuitry levels play an important role in mice that have been genetically modified for their entire lives. Mice that are genetically modified to be deficient in or to express mutant versions of the δ2 glutamate receptor (GluD2) serve as an interesting model due to the predominant expression of GluD2 at PF-Purkinje cell synapses. Furthermore, two major functions of GluD2-PF synapse formation and LTD induction-can be mechanistically dissociated so that the role of LTD in motor learning can be investigated in the absence of morphological abnormalities caused by altered synapse formation. Therefore, genetic manipulations of GluD2 will help to clarify the relationship between LTD and motor learning in the cerebellum.

Methionine oxidation in the calmodulin-binding domain of calcineurin disrupts calmodulin binding and calcineurin activation

Calcineurin is a Ca (2+)/calmodulin-activated Ser/Thr phosphatase important in cellular actions resulting in memory formation, cardiac hypertrophy, and T-cell activation. This enzyme is subject to oxidative inactivation by superoxide at low micromolar concentrations and by H 2O 2 at low millimolar concentrations. On the basis of the hypothesis that oxidation of Met residues in calmodulin-binding domains inhibits binding to calmodulin, purified calcineurin was used to study the susceptibility of Met residues to oxidation by H 2O 2. The rate for oxidation of Met 406 in the calmodulin-binding domain was determined to be 4.4 x 10 (-3) M (-1) s (-1), indicating a high susceptibility to oxidation. Functional repercussions of Met 406 oxidation were evaluated using native enzyme and a calcineurin mutant in which Met 406 was exchanged for Leu. Measurement of fluorescent calmodulin binding demonstrated that oxidation of Met 406 results in a 3.3-fold decrease in the affinity of calmodulin for calcineurin. Calcineurin activation exhibited a loss in cooperativity with respect to calmodulin following Met 406 oxidation as shown by a reduction in the Hill slope from 1.88 to 0.86. Maximum phosphatase activity was unaffected by Met oxidation. Changes in the calcineurin-calmodulin interaction were accompanied by a 40% loss in the ability of calmodulin to stimulate binding of immunophilin/immunosuppressant to calcineurin. All effects on calmodulin binding to the native enzyme by the treatment with H 2O 2 could be reversed by treating the enzyme with methionine sulfoxide reductase. These results indicate that the calmodulin-binding domain of calcineurin is susceptible to oxidation at Met 406 and that oxidation disrupts calmodulin binding and enzyme activation. Oxidation-dependent decreases in the affinity of calmodulin for calcineurin can potentially modulate calmodulin-dependent signaling and calmodulin distribution.

Involvement of protein-tyrosine phosphatase PTPMEG in motor learning and cerebellar long-term depression

Although protein-tyrosine phosphorylation is important for hippocampus-dependent learning, its role in cerebellum-dependent learning remains unclear. We previously found that PTPMEG, a cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine phosphatase expressed in Purkinje cells (PCs), bound to the carboxyl-terminus of the glutamate receptor delta2 via the postsynaptic density-95/discs-large/ZO-1 domain of PTPMEG. In the present study, we generated PTPMEG-knockout (KO) mice, and addressed whether PTPMEG is involved in cerebellar plasticity and cerebellum-dependent learning. The structure of the cerebellum in PTPMEG-KO mice appeared grossly normal. However, we found that PTPMEG-KO mice showed severe impairment in the accelerated rotarod test. These mice also exhibited impairment in rapid acquisition of the cerebellum-dependent delay eyeblink conditioning, in which conditioned stimulus (450-ms tone) and unconditioned stimulus (100-ms periorbital electrical shock) were co-terminated. Moreover, long-term depression at parallel fiber-PC synapses was significantly attenuated in these mice. Developmental elimination of surplus climbing fibers and the physiological properties of excitatory synaptic inputs to PCs appeared normal in PTPMEG-KO mice. These results suggest that tyrosine dephosphorylation events regulated by PTPMEG are important for both motor learning and cerebellar synaptic plasticity.

Regulation of long-term depression and climbing fiber territory by glutamate receptor delta2 at parallel fiber synapses through its C-terminal domain in cerebellar Purkinje cells

Glutamate receptor (GluR) delta2 selectively expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) plays key roles in long-term depression (LTD) induction at parallel fiber (PF)-PC synapses, motor learning, the matching and connection of PF-PC synapses in developing and adult cerebella, the elimination of multiple climbing fibers (CFs) during development, and the regulation of CF territory on PCs. However, it remains unsolved how GluRdelta2 regulates cerebellar synaptic plasticity, PF-PC synapse formation, and CF wiring. One possible signaling mechanism through GluRdelta2 is signaling by protein-protein interactions. The C-terminal region of GluRdelta2 contains at least three domains for protein-protein interactions. The PDZ (postsynaptic density-95/Discs large/zona occludens 1)-binding domain at the C terminal, named as the T site, interacts with several postsynaptic density proteins. Here, we generated GluRdelta2DeltaT mice carrying mutant GluRdelta2 lacking the T site. There were no significant differences in the amount of receptor proteins at synapses, histological features, and the fine structures of PF-PC synapses between wild-type and GluRdelta2DeltaT mice. However, LTD induction at PF-PC synapses and improvement in the accelerating rotarod test were impaired in GluRdelta2DeltaT mice. Furthermore, CF territory expanded distally and ectopic innervation of CFs occurred at distal dendrites in GluRdelta2DeltaT mice, but the elimination of surplus CF innervation at proximal dendrites appeared to proceed normally. These results suggest that the C-terminal T site of GluRdelta2 is essential for LTD induction and the regulation of CF territory but is dispensable for PF-PC synapse formation and the elimination of surplus CFs at proximal dendrites during development.