CKAMP44 modulates integration of visual inputs in the lateral geniculate nucleus

Xufeng Chen, Muhammad Aslam, Tim Gollisch, Kevin Allen and Jakob Engelhardt ()
Additional contact information
Xufeng Chen: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Muhammad Aslam: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Tim Gollisch: University Medical Center Göttingen
Kevin Allen: Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Jakob Engelhardt: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Relay neurons in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) receive excitatory inputs from retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Retinogeniculate synapses are characterized by a prominent short-term depression of AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated currents, but the underlying mechanisms and its function for visual integration are not known. Here we identify CKAMP44 as a crucial auxiliary subunit of AMPARs in dLGN relay neurons, where it increases AMPAR-mediated current amplitudes and modulates gating of AMPARs. Importantly, CKAMP44 is responsible for the distinctive short-term depression in retinogeniculate synapses by reducing the rate of recovery from desensitization of AMPARs. Genetic deletion of CKAMP44 strongly reduces synaptic short-term depression, which leads to increased spike probability of relay neurons when activated with high-frequency inputs from retinogeniculate synapses. Finally, in vivo recordings reveal augmented ON- and OFF-responses of dLGN neurons in CKAMP44 knockout (CKAMP44−/−) mice, demonstrating the importance of CKAMP44 for modulating synaptic short-term depression and visual input integration.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02415-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-017-02415-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02415-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().