L-type Ca2+ (CaV1) channels transduce channel activities into nuclear signals critical to neuritogenesis. Also, standalone peptides encoded by CaV1 DCT (distal carboxyl-terminus) act as nuclear transcription factors reportedly promoting neuritogenesis. Here, by focusing on exemplary CaV1.3 and cortical neurons under basal conditions, we discover that cytosolic DCT peptides downregulate neurite outgrowth by the interactions with CaV1’s apo-calmodulin binding motif. Distinct from nuclear DCT, various cytosolic peptides exert a gradient of inhibitory effects on Ca2+ influx via CaV1 channels and neurite extension and arborization, and also the intermediate events including CREB activation and c-Fos expression. The inhibition efficacies of DCT are quantitatively correlated with its binding affinities. Meanwhile, cytosolic inhibition tends to facilitate neuritogenesis indirectly by favoring Ca2+-sensitive nuclear retention of DCT. In summary, DCT peptides as a class of CaV1 inhibitors specifically regulate the channel activity-neuritogenesis coupling in a variant-, affinity-, and localization-dependent manner.
Dynamic Ca2+ signals reflect acute changes in membrane excitability (e.g. responses to stimuli), and also mediate intracellular signaling cascades that normally take longer time to manifest (e.g., regulations of transcription). In both cases, chronic Ca2+ imaging has been often desired, but largely hindered by unexpected cytotoxicity intrinsic to GCaMP, a popular series of genetically-encoded Ca2+ indicators. Here, we demonstrate the performance of GCaMP-X in chronic Ca2+ imaging with long-term probe expression in cortical neurons, which has been designed to eliminate the unwanted interactions between conventional GCaMP indicators and endogenous (apo)calmodulin-binding proteins. By expressing in live adult mice at high levels over an extended time frame, GCaMP-X indicators showed less damage and improved performance in two-photon imaging of acute Ca2+ responses to whisker deflection or spontaneous Ca2+ fluctuations. Chronic Ca2+ imaging data (³1 month) were acquired from cultured cortical neurons expressing GCaMP-X, unveiling that spontaneous/local Ca2+ transients would progressively develop into autonomous/global Ca2+ oscillations. Besides the morphological indices of neurite length and soma size, the major metrics of oscillatory Ca2+, including rate, amplitude and synchrony were also examined along with the multiple stages (from neonatal to mature) during neural development. Dysregulations of both neuritogenesis and Ca2+ oscillations were observed typically in 2-3 weeks, which were exacerbated by stronger or prolonged expression of GCaMP. In comparison, neurons expressing GCaMP-X exhibited significantly less damage. By varying the timepoints of virus infection or drug induction, GCaMP-X outperformed GCaMP similarly in cultured mature neurons. These data altogether highlight the unique importance of oscillatory Ca2+ to morphology and health of neurons, presumably underlying the differential performance between GCaMP-X and GCaMP. In summary, GCaMP-X provides a viable option for Ca2+ imaging applications involving long-time and/or high-level expression of Ca2+ probes.
Dynamic Ca2+ signals reflect acute changes in membrane excitability (e.g. sensory response), and also mediate intracellular signaling cascades normally of longer time scales (e.g., Ca2+- dependent neuritogenesis). In both cases, chronic Ca2+ imaging has been often desired, but largely hindered by unexpected cytotoxicity intrinsic to GCaMP, a popular series of genetically-encoded Ca2+ indicators. Here, we demonstrate that the recently developed GCaMP-X outperforms GCaMP in long-term probe expression and/or chronic Ca2+ imaging. GCaMP-X shows much improved compatibility with neurons and thus more reliable than GCaMP as demonstrated in vivo by acute Ca2+ responses to whisker deflection or spontaneous Ca2+ fluctuations over an extended time frame. Chronic Ca2+ imaging data (≥1 month) are acquired from the same set of cultured cortical neurons, unveiling that spontaneous/local Ca2+ activities would progressively develop into autonomous/global Ca2+ oscillations. Besides the morphological indices of neurite length or soma size, the major metrics of oscillatory Ca2+, including rate, amplitude, synchrony among different neurons or organelles have also been examined along with the developmental stages. Both neuritogenesis and Ca2+ signals are dysregulated by GCaMP in virus-infected or transgenic neurons, in direct contrast to GCaMP-X without any noticeable side-effect. Such in vitro data altogether consolidate the unique importance of oscillatory Ca2+ to activity-dependent neuritogenesis, as one major factor responsible for the distinctions between GCaMP vs GCaMP-X in vivo. For the first time with GCaMP-X of long-term expression in neurons, spontaneous and sensory-evoked Ca2+ activities are imaged and evaluated both in vitro and in vivo, providing new opportunities to monitor neural development or other chronic processes concurrently with Ca2+ dynamics.
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