Okayama University research

Making memories--the workings of a neuron revealed

OKAYAMA, Japan, Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In a study published in Scientific Reports researchers at Okayama University use simulations to depict changes that occur within neurons during the processes of learning and memory formation.

Two antagonist phenomena in the brain are known to drive learning and memory. Long-term potentiation (LTP) strengthens communication between adjacent neurons to facilitate the integration of new memories. Long-term depression (LTD) weakens such interactions to relieve the brain of redundant information. However, the molecular changes driving these processes are still unclear to neuroscientists. Now, in a collaboration between Associate Professor SUMI Tomonari from Okayama University and Assistant Professor HARADA Kouji from Toyohashi University of Technology, a pair of scientists has revealed how the competitive shuttling of one molecule between in and out of synapses play an important role in this regard.

LTP and LTD are initiated by flux of calcium ions into neighbouring (post-synaptic) neurons when those receive signals from the pre-synaptic ones. The post-synaptic neurons then do so by presenting a signal reader known as the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR) on their surface during LTP, which fades away during LTD. To understand the dynamics of AMPAR increase and decrease on post-synaptic membranes better, the duo created a mathematical model of post-synaptic neuron that closely mimicked physiological LTP and LTD. Neurons of the hippocampus—the seat of learning and memory within the brain—were used as a model system.

Influxes of calcium ions were applied as the input of the simulations, and successfully trigger LTP and LTD. As expected, calcium-induced LTP stimulus resulted in AMPAR being shuttled out of the post-synaptic neurons, whereas LTD resulted in AMPAR being shunted back in. A deeper dive revealed that two opposing calcium sensors, namely synaptotagmin 1/7 (Syt1/7) and protein interacting with C-kinase 1 (PICK1), were driving these movements. Both sensors were active during LTP and LTD albeit in varying amounts. The Syt1/7 activity overtook the PICK1 during LTP resulting in a release of AMPAR from vesicles, whereas the former was overtook by the latter during LTD resulting in a recapture of the released AMPAR. A competition between Syt1/7 and PICK1 was thus behind the increase and decrease of AMPAR on the post-synaptic membranes.