Reduction of Cav1.3 channels in dorsal hippocampus impairs the development of dentate gyrus newborn neurons and hippocampal-dependent memory tasks

PLoS One. 2017 Jul 17;12(7):e0181138. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0181138. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Cav1.3 has been suggested to mediate hippocampal neurogenesis of adult mice and contribute to hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes. However, the mechanism of Cav1.3 contribution in these processes is unclear. Here, roles of Cav1.3 of mouse dorsal hippocampus during newborn cell development were examined. We find that knock-out (KO) of Cav1.3 resulted in the reduction of survival of newborn neurons at 28 days old after mitosis. The retroviral eGFP expression showed that both dendritic complexity and the number and length of mossy fiber bouton (MFB) filopodia of newborn neurons at ≥ 14 days old were significantly reduced in KO mice. Both contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and object-location recognition tasks were impaired in recent (1 day) memory test while passive avoidance task was impaired only in remote (≥ 20 days) memory in KO mice. Results using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated Cav1.3 knock-down (KD) or retrovirus-mediated KD in dorsal hippocampal DG area showed that the recent memory of CFC was impaired in both KD mice but the remote memory was impaired only in AAV KD mice, suggesting that Cav1.3 of mature neurons play important roles in both recent and remote CFC memory while Cav1.3 in newborn neurons is selectively involved in the recent CFC memory process. Meanwhile, AAV KD of Cav1.3 in ventral hippocampal area has no effect on the recent CFC memory. In conclusion, the results suggest that Cav1.3 in newborn neurons of dorsal hippocampus is involved in the survival of newborn neurons while mediating developments of dendritic and axonal processes of newborn cells and plays a role in the memory process differentially depending on the stage of maturation and the type of learning task.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Behavior, Animal
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / chemistry
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / genetics
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type / metabolism*
  • Dendrites / physiology
  • Dentate Gyrus / growth & development
  • Dentate Gyrus / metabolism*
  • Dentate Gyrus / pathology
  • Dependovirus / genetics
  • Fear
  • Genetic Vectors / metabolism
  • Hippocampus / metabolism*
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Male
  • Memory / physiology
  • Memory, Long-Term
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Pseudopodia / physiology
  • RNA Interference
  • RNA, Small Interfering / metabolism
  • Retroviridae / genetics

Substances

  • Cacna1d protein, mouse
  • Calcium Channels, L-Type
  • RNA, Small Interfering

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Brain Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (http://www.nrf.re.kr/index) to C.-H.K. (Project No. 2016M3C7A1905119 and 2015M3C7A1 028392) and by the KIST Institutional Program (https://www.kist.re.kr/kist_web/main/) to C.-H.K. (Project No. 2E26820). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.