ISSN 0371-0874, CN 31-1352/Q

Issue Archive

Postsynaptic calcium pathway contributes to synaptic plasticity between retinal cones and luminosity-type horizontal cells

HUANG Shi-Yong, HU Jian-Feng, GONG Hai-Qing, LIANG Pei-Ji

Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; Department of BiomedicalEngineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Abstract

It was previously found that the efficacy of synaptic transmission between retinal cone systems and luminosity-typehorizontal cells (LHCs) was activity-dependent. Repetitive activation of red-cone pathway increased the LHC’s hyperpolarizingresponse to red light, and the response enhancement was reversible. In this study, intracellular recording and pharmacological methodwere applied to investigate the mechanism(s) underlying red-flickering-induced response enhancement. Lowering intracellular Ca2+ inthe LHC by intracellular injection of Ca2+ chelator EGTA prevented the development of red-flickering-induced response enhancement,which implicates the importance of postsynaptic calcium signal. The response enhancement could also be eliminated by a potentantagonist of Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptor (CP-AMPAR), which suggests the possibility that Ca2+ influx via glutamate-gatedcalcium channels is related to the changes of [Ca2+]i. Furthermore, the administration of ryanodine or caffeine also attenuated thephenomenon, which gives evidence that the local calcium signal caused by intracellular calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) may beinvolved. Taken together, our data implicate that postsynaptic CICR and CP-AMPAR are related to the activity-dependent responseenhancement.

Key words: AMPA; calcium; neuronal plasticity; retina; ryanodine receptor/calcium release channel

Received:   Accepted:

Corresponding author: 梁培基  E-mail: pjliang@sjtu.edu.cn

Citing This Article:

HUANG Shi-Yong, HU Jian-Feng, GONG Hai-Qing, LIANG Pei-Ji. Postsynaptic calcium pathway contributes to synaptic plasticity between retinal cones and luminosity-type horizontal cells. Acta Physiol Sin 2006; 58 (5): 407-414 (in Chinese with English abstract).