Protein Kinase C Increases the Apparent Affinity of the Release Machinery to Ca2+ by Enhancing the Release Machinery Downstream of the Ca2+ Sensor

摘要

Modulation of the release probability of releasable vesicles in response to Ca²⁺ influx (ProbCa) is involved in mediating several forms of synaptic plasticity, including short-term depression, short-term augmentation, and potentiation induced by protein kinases. Given such an important role, however, the mechanism underlying modulation of the ProbCais unclear. We addressed this question by investigating how the activation of protein kinase C modulates the ProbCa at a calyx-type nerve terminal in rat brainstem. Various lengths of step depolarization were applied to the nerve terminal to evoke different amounts of Ca²⁺ currents and capacitance jumps, the latter of which reflect vesicle release. The relationship between the capacitance jump and the Ca²⁺ current integral was sigmoidal and was fit well with a Hill function. The sigmoidal relationship was shifted significantly to the left during the application of the PKC activator 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), suggesting that PMA increases the apparent affinity of the release machinery to Ca²⁺. This effect was blocked in large part by the application of the PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide, suggesting that the effect is mediated mainly by the activation of PKC. We also found that PMA increased the rate of miniature EPSCs evoked by the application of hypertonic sucrose solution, which triggers release downstream of the Ca²⁺ influx. Taken together, our results suggest that PKC enhances the apparent affinity of the release machinery to Ca²⁺ by a mechanism downstream of the binding between Ca²⁺ and its sensor. These results have provided the first example of the mechanisms underlying modulation of the ProbCa.