Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Selective activation of BK channels in small-headed dendritic spines suppresses excitatory postsynaptic potentials

Sabrina Tazerart, Maxime G. Blanchard, Soledad Miranda-Rottmann, Diana E. Mitchell, Bruno Navea Pina, Connon I. Thomas, Naomi Kamasawa, View ORCID ProfileRoberto Araya
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.07.459293
Sabrina Tazerart
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Maxime G. Blanchard
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Soledad Miranda-Rottmann
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Diana E. Mitchell
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bruno Navea Pina
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Connon I. Thomas
3The Imaging Center and Electron Microscopy Core facility, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Naomi Kamasawa
3The Imaging Center and Electron Microscopy Core facility, Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience, Jupiter, FL 33458, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Roberto Araya
1Département de Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada
2The CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Roberto Araya
  • For correspondence: roberto.araya@umontreal.ca
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Dendritic spines are the main receptacles of excitatory information in the brain. Their particular morphology, with a small head connected to the dendrite by a slender neck, has inspired theoretical and experimental work to understand how these structural features affect the processing, storage and integration of synaptic inputs in pyramidal neurons (PNs).

The activation of glutamate receptors in spines triggers a large voltage change as well as calcium signals at the spine head. Thus, voltage-gated and calcium-activated potassium channels located in the spine head likely play a key role in synaptic transmission. Here we study the presence and function of large conductance calcium-activated potassium (BK) channels in spines from layer 5 PNs. We find that BK channels are localized to dendrites and spines regardless of their size, but their activity can only be detected in spines with small head volumes (≤ 0.09 µm3), which reduces the amplitude of two-photon (2P) uncaging (u) excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) recorded at the soma. In addition, we find that calcium signals in spines with small head volumes are significantly larger than those observed in spines with larger head volumes. In accordance with our experimental data, numerical simulations predict that synaptic inputs impinging onto spines with small head volumes generate voltage responses and calcium signals within the spine head itself that are significantly larger than those observed in spines with bigger head volumes, which are sufficient to activate spine BK channels. These results show that BK channels are selectively activated in small-headed spines, suggesting a new level of dendritic spine-mediated regulation of synaptic processing, integration, and plasticity in cortical PNs.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted September 08, 2021.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Selective activation of BK channels in small-headed dendritic spines suppresses excitatory postsynaptic potentials
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Selective activation of BK channels in small-headed dendritic spines suppresses excitatory postsynaptic potentials
Sabrina Tazerart, Maxime G. Blanchard, Soledad Miranda-Rottmann, Diana E. Mitchell, Bruno Navea Pina, Connon I. Thomas, Naomi Kamasawa, Roberto Araya
bioRxiv 2021.09.07.459293; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.07.459293
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Selective activation of BK channels in small-headed dendritic spines suppresses excitatory postsynaptic potentials
Sabrina Tazerart, Maxime G. Blanchard, Soledad Miranda-Rottmann, Diana E. Mitchell, Bruno Navea Pina, Connon I. Thomas, Naomi Kamasawa, Roberto Araya
bioRxiv 2021.09.07.459293; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.07.459293

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4675)
  • Biochemistry (10347)
  • Bioengineering (7658)
  • Bioinformatics (26306)
  • Biophysics (13505)
  • Cancer Biology (10672)
  • Cell Biology (15424)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8490)
  • Ecology (12808)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16835)
  • Genetics (11383)
  • Genomics (15471)
  • Immunology (10603)
  • Microbiology (25186)
  • Molecular Biology (10211)
  • Neuroscience (54398)
  • Paleontology (400)
  • Pathology (1667)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2889)
  • Physiology (4334)
  • Plant Biology (9237)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1586)
  • Synthetic Biology (2556)
  • Systems Biology (6774)
  • Zoology (1461)