Nonlinear interactions between coactive synapses enable neurons to discriminate between spatiotemporal patterns of inputs. Using patterned postsynaptic stimulation by two-photon glutamate uncaging, here we investigate the sensitivity of synaptic Ca2+ signalling and long-term plasticity in individual spines to coincident activity of nearby synapses. We find a proximodistally increasing gradient of nonlinear NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated amplification of spine Ca2+ signals by a few neighbouring coactive synapses along individual perisomatic dendrites. This synaptic cooperativity does not require dendritic spikes, but is correlated with dendritic Na+ spike propagation strength. Furthermore, we show that repetitive synchronous subthreshold activation of small spine clusters produces input specific, NMDAR-dependent cooperative long-term potentiation at distal but not proximal dendritic locations. The sensitive synaptic cooperativity at distal dendritic compartments shown here may promote the formation of functional synaptic clusters, which in turn can facilitate active dendritic processing and storage of information encoded in spatiotemporal synaptic activity patterns.

Key points• Dopamine D 1 receptors activate the cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) pathway in both cortex and striatum, with different types of signalling enzymes being involved in cAMP/PKA signal integration. We investigated the functional implications of such differences.• Biosensor imaging in mouse brain slice preparations revealed that the cAMP/PKA signal increases faster, reaches higher levels and lasts longer in striatal neurones than in cortical neurones.• These differences result from faster cAMP production and lower degradation by type 4 phosphodiesterase activities in the striatum than in the cortex. In addition, DARPP-32 in the striatum prolongs the PKA response by inhibiting phosphatases.• These molecular features confers on striatal neurones a particular ability to temporally decode sub-second dopamine signals associated with reward and learning.Abstract The cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signalling cascade is ubiquitous, and each step in this cascade involves enzymes that are expressed in multiple isoforms. We investigated the effects of this diversity on the integration of the pathway in the target cell by comparing prefrontal cortical neurones with striatal neurones which express a very specific set of signalling proteins. The prefrontal cortex and striatum both receive dopaminergic inputs and we analysed the dynamics of the cAMP/PKA signal triggered by dopamine D 1 receptors in these two brain structures. Biosensor imaging in mouse brain slice preparations showed profound differences in the D 1 response between pyramidal cortical neurones and striatal medium spiny neurones: the cAMP/PKA response was much stronger, faster and longer lasting in striatal neurones than in pyramidal cortical neurones. We identified three molecular determinants underlying these differences: different activities of phosphodiesterases, particularly those of type 4, which strongly damp the cAMP signal in the cortex but not in the striatum; stronger adenylyl cyclase activity in the striatum, generating responses with a faster onset than in the cortex; and DARPP-32, a phosphatase inhibitor which prolongs PKA action in the striatum. Striatal neurones were also highly responsive in terms of gene expression since a single sub-second dopamine stimulation is sufficient to trigger c-Fos expression in the striatum, but not in the cortex. Our data show how L. R. V. Castro and M. Brito contributed equally to this work and are joint first authors.

The NO-cGMP signaling plays an important role in the regulation of striatal function although the mechanisms of action of cGMP specifically in medium spiny neurons (MSNs) remain unclear. Using genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors, including a novel Epac-based sensor (EPAC-SH150) with increased sensitivity for cAMP, we analyze the cGMP response to NO and whether it affected cAMP/PKA signaling in MSNs. The Cygnet2 sensor for cGMP reported large responses to NO donors in both striatonigral and striatopallidal MSNs, this cGMP signal was controlled partially by PDE2. At the level of cAMP brief forskolin stimulations produced transient cAMP signals which differed between D1 and D2 MSNs. NO inhibited these cAMP transients through cGMP-dependent PDE2 activation, an effect that was translated and magnified downstream of cAMP, at the level of PKA. PDE2 thus appears as a critical effector of NO which modulates the post-synaptic response of MSNs to dopaminergic transmission.