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βCaMKII controls the direction of plasticity at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses

Nature Neuroscience volume 12, pages 823–825 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

We found that βCaMKII, the predominant CaMKII isoform of the cerebellum, is important for controlling the direction of plasticity at the parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapse; a protocol that induced synaptic depression in wild-type mice resulted in synaptic potentiation in Camk2b knockout mice and vice versa. These findings provide us with unique experimental insight into the mechanisms that transduce graded calcium signals into either synaptic depression or potentiation.

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Figure 1: Basal characterization of the Camk2b−/− mutant.
Figure 2: Bidirectional inversion of plasticity at the parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapse.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Andreev, G. Buitendijk, P. Plak, A. Belmeguenai, D. Jaarsma, M. Vandeputte, M. Elgersma, E. Haasdijk, H. Goedknegt, B. Dortland, M. Aghadavoud and J. Kongasan for technical assistance and to G. Borst and R. Colbran for stimulating discussions. This work was supported by grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (C.H., C.I.D.Z. F.E.H., and Y.E.), Neuro-BSIK (C.I.D.Z. and Y.E.), EEC-SENSOPAC and Prinses Beatrix Fonds (C.I.D.Z.).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Christian Hansel

    Present address: Present address: Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.,

  2. Geeske M van Woerden and Freek E Hoebeek: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Neuroscience, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Geeske M van Woerden, Freek E Hoebeek, Zhenyu Gao, Raghavendra Y Nagaraja, Casper C Hoogenraad, Christian Hansel, Chris I De Zeeuw & Ype Elgersma

  2. Psychiatry, Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Steven A Kushner

  3. Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Chris I De Zeeuw

Authors
  1. Geeske M van Woerden
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  8. Chris I De Zeeuw
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Contributions

G.M.v.W. generated the mutant and conducted the molecular and behavioral characterization, F.E.H., Z.G. and R.Y.N. conducted the electrophysiology experiments, C.C.H. performed the diOlystic labeling, Y.E., C.I.D.Z. and C.H. supervised the project, and S.A.K. and Y.E. generated the models. Y.E., S.A.K., G.M.v.W. and F.E.H. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chris I De Zeeuw or Ype Elgersma.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–8 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 518 kb)

Supplementary Movie 1

Video recording of a Camk2b−/− mutant mouse in the open field shows its ataxic gait. (MOV 4348 kb)

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van Woerden, G., Hoebeek, F., Gao, Z. et al. βCaMKII controls the direction of plasticity at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses. Nat Neurosci 12, 823–825 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2329

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