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[P1.01]: Functional regulations of p120 catenin at presynaptic site in neuron cultures
Author(s) -
Peng I. Feng.,
Lee SH.,
Reichardt L.,
Ullian E.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2008.09.051
Subject(s) - citation , library science , psychology , information retrieval , computer science
Cadherins and their essential adaptor proteins, catenins, are widely expressed in neurons. These complex proteins bridge the extracellular and intracellular environment, interact with several signalling pathways, and regulate a variety of developmental processes in the nervous system. The p120 catenin has been demonstrated to mediate important postsynaptic roles such as regulating dendritic spine and synapse development in vitro and in vivo (Elia et al., 2006). In the present work, we examine the presynaptic role of p120 by investigating functional consequences of p120 loss in hippocampal neurons. We find that p120 deletion leads to a large reduction in the frequency of spontaneous excitatory synaptic miniature events compared to control wildtype (WT) neurons. In addition, using dual-neuron patch-clamp recordings we measured a dramatic switch in the paired-pulse ratio in p120 deleted compared to WT neurons. Our evoked EPSC results further show an increase in the coefficient of variation of EPSC size in p120 deleted neurons, but do not detect any significant alterations on the ratio of AMPA receptor-mediated currents and NMDA receptor-mediated currents. These results together indicate a presynaptic role of p120. Such presynaptic regulation by the cadherin–catenin pathway may contribute to the stability and plasticity of synaptic transmission, and reveals a critical role for p120 catenin in the normal presynaptic function of CNS neurons.