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Neurosteroids exert potent physiological effects by allosterically modulating synaptic and extrasynaptic GABA A receptors. Some endogenous neurosteroids, such as 3α, 21-dihydroxy-5β-pregnan-20-one (5α, 3α-THDOC), potentiate GABA A receptor function by interacting with a binding pocket defined by conserved residues in the first and fourth transmembrane (TM) domains of α subunits. Others, such as pregnenolone sulfate (PS), inhibit GABA A receptor function through as-yet unidentified binding sites. Here we investigate the mechanisms of PS inhibition of mammalian GABA A receptors, based on studies of PS inhibition of the UNC-49 GABA receptor, a GABA A -like receptor from Caenorhabditis elegans. In UNC-49, a 19 residue segment of TM1 can be mutated to increase or decrease PS sensitivity over a 20-fold range. Surprisingly, substituting these UNC-49 sequences into mammalian α 1 , β 2 , and γ 2 subunits did not produce the corresponding effects on PS sensitivity of the resulting chimeric receptors. Therefore, it is unlikely that a conserved PS binding pocket is formed at this site. However we observed several interesting unexpected effects. First, chimeric γ2 subunits caused increased efficacy of 5α, 3α-THDOC potentiation; second, spontaneous gating of α 6 β 2 δ receptors was blocked by PS, and reduced by chimeric β 2 subunits; and third, direct activation of α 6 β 2 δ receptors by 5α, 3α-THDOC was reduced by chimeric β 2 subunits. These results reveal novel roles for non-α subunits in neurosteroid modulation and direct activation, and show that the β subunit TM1 domain is important for spontaneous activity of extrasynaptic GABA A receptors.

Synapse strength refers to the amplitude of postsynaptic responses to presynaptic neurotransmitter release events, and has a major impact on overall neural circuit function. Synapse strength critically depends on the abundance of neurotransmitter receptors clustered at synaptic sites on the postsynaptic membrane. Receptor levels are established developmentally, and can be altered by receptor trafficking between surfacelocalized, subsynaptic, and intracellular pools, representing important mechanisms of synaptic plasticity and neuromodulation. Rigorous methods to quantify synaptically-localized neurotransmitter receptor abundance are essential to study synaptic development and plasticity. Fluorescence microscopy is an optimal approach because it preserves spatial information, distinguishing synaptic from non-synaptic pools, and discriminating among receptor populations localized to different types of synapses. The genetic model organism Caenorhabditis elegans is particularly well suited for these studies due to the small size and relative simplicity of its nervous system, its transparency, and the availability of powerful genetic techniques, allowing examination of native synapses in intact animals.Here we present a method for quantifying fluorescently-labeled synaptic neurotransmitter receptors in C. elegans. Its key feature is the automated identification and analysis of individual synapses in three dimensions in multi-plane confocal microscope output files, tabulating position, volume, fluorescence intensity, and total fluorescence for each synapse. This approach has two principal advantages over manual analysis of z-plane projections of confocal data. First, because every plane of the confocal data set is included, no data are lost through z-plane projection, typically based on pixel intensity averages or maxima. Second, identification of synapses is automated, but can be inspected by the experimenter as the data analysis proceeds, allowing fast and accurate extraction of data from large numbers of synapses. Hundreds to thousands of synapses per sample can easily be obtained, producing large data sets to maximize statistical power. Considerations for preparing C. elegans for analysis, and performing confocal imaging to minimize variability between animals within treatment groups are also discussed. Although developed to analyze C. elegans postsynaptic receptors, this method is generally useful for any type of synaptically-localized protein, or indeed, any fluorescence signal that is localized to discrete clusters, puncta, or organelles.The procedure is performed in three steps: 1) preparation of samples, 2) confocal imaging, and 3) image analysis. Steps 1 and 2 are specific to C. elegans, while step 3 is generally applicable to any punctate fluorescence signal in confocal micrographs.

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