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L-type Ca²? channel blockade with antihypertensive medication disrupts VTA synaptic plasticity and drug-associated contextual memory.

ABSTRACT: Drug addiction is driven, in part, by powerful and enduring memories of sensory cues associated with drug intake. As such, relapse to drug use during abstinence is frequently triggered by an encounter with drug-associated cues, including the drug itself. L-type Ca(2+) channels (LTCCs) are known to regulate different forms of synaptic plasticity, the major neural substrate for learning and memory, in various brain areas. Long-term potentiation (LTP) of NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated glutamatergic transmission in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) may contribute to the increased motivational valence of drug-associated cues triggering relapse. In this study, using rat brain slices, we found that isradipine, a general LTCC antagonist used as antihypertensive medication, not only blocks the induction of NMDAR LTP but also promotes the reversal of previously induced LTP in the VTA. In behaving rats, isradipine injected into the VTA suppressed the acquisition of cocaine-paired contextual cue memory assessed using a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Furthermore, administration of isradipine or a CaV1.3 subtype-selective LTCC antagonist (systemic or intra-VTA) before a single extinction or reinstatement session, while having no immediate effect at the time of administration, abolished previously acquired cocaine and alcohol (ethanol) CPP on subsequent days. Notably, CPP thus extinguished cannot be reinstated by drug re-exposure, even after 2 weeks of withdrawal. These results suggest that LTCC blockade during exposure to drug-associated cues may cause unlearning of the increased valence of those cues, presumably via reversal of glutamatergic synaptic plasticity in the VTA.

SUBMITTER: Degoulet M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4689680 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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L-type Ca²⁺ channel blockade with antihypertensive medication disrupts VTA synaptic plasticity and drug-associated contextual memory.

Degoulet M M Stelly C E CE Ahn K-C KC Morikawa H H

Molecular psychiatry 20150623 3

Drug addiction is driven, in part, by powerful and enduring memories of sensory cues associated with drug intake. As such, relapse to drug use during abstinence is frequently triggered by an encounter with drug-associated cues, including the drug itself. L-type Ca(2+) channels (LTCCs) are known to regulate different forms of synaptic plasticity, the major neural substrate for learning and memory, in various brain areas. Long-term potentiation (LTP) of NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-mediated glutamatergic ...[more]

PMID: 26100537

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Project description:Prevailing models postulate that high Ca(2+) selectivity of Ca(2+) release-activated Ca(2+) (CRAC) channels arises from tight Ca(2+) binding to a high affinity site within the pore, thereby blocking monovalent ion flux. Here, we examined the contribution of high affinity Ca(2+) binding for Ca(2+) selectivity in recombinant Orai3 channels, which function as highly Ca(2+)-selective channels when gated by the endoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) sensor STIM1 or as poorly Ca(2+)-selective channels when activated by the small molecule 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB). Extracellular Ca(2+) blocked Na(+) currents in both gating modes with a similar inhibition constant (Ki; ~25 µM). Thus, equilibrium binding as set by the Ki of Ca(2+) blockade cannot explain the differing Ca(2+) selectivity of the two gating modes. Unlike STIM1-gated channels, Ca(2+) blockade in 2-APB-gated channels depended on the extracellular Na(+) concentration and exhibited an anomalously steep voltage dependence, consistent with enhanced Na(+) pore occupancy. Moreover, the second-order rate constants of Ca(2+) blockade were eightfold faster in 2-APB-gated channels than in STIM1-gated channels. A four-barrier, three-binding site Eyring model indicated that lowering the entry and exit energy barriers for Ca(2+) and Na(+) to simulate the faster rate constants of 2-APB-gated channels qualitatively reproduces their low Ca(2+) selectivity, suggesting that ion entry and exit rates strongly affect Ca(2+) selectivity. Noise analysis indicated that the unitary Na(+) conductance of 2-APB-gated channels is fourfold larger than that of STIM1-gated channels, but both modes of gating show a high open probability (Po; ~0.7). The increase in current noise during channel activation was consistent with stepwise recruitment of closed channels to a high Po state in both cases, suggesting that the underlying gating mechanisms are operationally similar in the two gating modes. These results suggest that both high affinity Ca(2+) binding and kinetic factors contribute to high Ca(2+) selectivity in CRAC channels.

Dataset Information

L-type Ca²? channel blockade with antihypertensive medication disrupts VTA synaptic plasticity and drug-associated contextual memory.

Publications

L-type Ca²⁺ channel blockade with antihypertensive medication disrupts VTA synaptic plasticity and drug-associated contextual memory.

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