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Biomedical subjects

György Lonart

Publications and source records attributed to György Lonart.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Deletion of synapsins I and II genes alters the size of vesicular pools and rabphilin phosphorylation.

Previous studies established that genetic deletion of synapsins, synaptic vesicle-associated phosphoproteins that regulate neurotransmitter release, decreases the number of synaptic vesicles in nerve terminals. To investigate whether these changes affect the release properties of the remaining synaptic vesicles, we used a radioactive labeling technique to measure release independently of the total number of synaptic vesicles. 3H-glutamate and 14C-gamma-amino-butyric-acid (GABA) release from isolated nerve terminals prepared from the neocortex of synapsins I and II double knock-out mice (DKO) was assayed and compared to wild-type preparations. Hyperosmotic shock-evoked 3H-glutamate was reduced by 20+/-3% from DKO nerve terminals and potassium depolarization-evoked glutamate release was also decreased by 28+/-2%. Surprisingly, sucrose or potassium depolarization-evoked release of 14C-GABA was increased by 32+/-4% and 29+/-5%, respectively. The basal efflux of both 3H-glutamate and 14C-GABA increased by 17+/-2% and 12+/-2% from DKO nerve terminals. As lack of synapsins I and II, major phosphoproteins of synaptic vesicles, may lead to deregulation of phosphorylation events, we compared phosphorylation state of another synaptic vesicle protein, rabphilin. In DKO nerve terminals, membrane-associated rabphilin level was reduced by approximately 0.28-fold, its phosphorylation at 234serine was increased by approximately 1.61-fold whereas cytosolic rabphilin levels showed both more dramatic reduction in abundance, approximately 16.5-fold, and increase in phosphorylation, approximately 4.8-fold. Collectively, these data suggest that deletion of major synapsin isoforms leads to (1) deregulation of basal neurotransmission causing "leaky" basal release, (2) changes in either the size or mobilization of releasable or reserve pools, and (3) a decrease in rabphilin abundance accompanied by an increase in basal phosphorylation of the remaining rabphilin.

Animals↗

Adapter protein 14-3-3 is required for a presynaptic form of LTP in the cerebellum.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of granule cell-Purkinje cell synapses in the mouse cerebellum requires phosphorylation by protein kinase A of the active-zone protein RIM1alpha at Ser413. Here, we show that the adapter protein 14-3-3 readily binds phosphorylated Ser413 in RIM1alpha, and that presynaptic transfection with a dominant-negative 14-3-3eta mutant, or a RIM1alpha mutant with enhanced 14-3-3 binding, inhibits LTP. Thus, RIM1alpha phosphorylation triggers presynaptic LTP in part through recruitment of 14-3-3 to phospho-Ser413-RIM1alpha.

14-3-3 Proteins↗

Phosphorylation of RIM1alpha by PKA triggers presynaptic long-term potentiation at cerebellar parallel fiber synapses.

Presynaptic activation of protein kinase A (PKA) induces LTP in cerebellar parallel fiber synapses. Presynaptic LTP is known to require the active zone protein RIM1alpha, but the underlying induction mechanism remains unclear. We now show that PKA directly phosphorylates RIM1alpha at two sites. Using paired recordings from cultured cerebellar granule and Purkinje neurons, we demonstrate that LTP is absent in neurons from RIM1alpha KO mice but is rescued by presynaptic expression of RIM1alpha. Mutant RIM1alpha lacking the N-terminal phosphorylation site is unable to rescue LTP in RIM1alpha knockout neurons but selectively suppresses LTP in wild-type neurons. Our findings suggest that PKA-mediated phosphorylation of the active zone protein RIM1alpha at a single N-terminal site induces presynaptic LTP.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

RIM1: an edge for presynaptic plasticity.

Pioneering work suggests that a synaptic active zone protein, RIM1, regulates both short- and long-term glutamatergic presynaptic plasticity at certain synapses. In short-term plasticity, RIM1 accelerates the priming of synaptic vesicles for fusion; by contrast, in long-term potentiation of mossy fiber synapses in the hippocampal CA3 region, phosphorylated RIM1 acts through an unknown molecular pathway to enhance release of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate.

Animals↗