Abstract

Human mutations in the dystroglycan complex (DGC) result in not only muscular dystrophy but also cognitive impairments. However, the molecular architecture critical for the synaptic organization of the DGC in neurons remains elusive. Here we report Inhibitory Synaptic protein 1 (InSyn1) is a critical component of the DGC whose loss alters the composition of the GABAergic synapses, excitatory/inhibitory balance in vitro and in vivo, and cognitive behavior. Association of InSyn1 with DGC subunits is required for InSyn1 synaptic localization. InSyn1 null neurons also show a significant reduction in DGC and GABA receptor distribution as well as abnormal neuronal network activity. Moreover, InSyn1 null mice exhibit elevated neuronal firing patterns in the hippocampus and deficits in fear conditioning memory. Our results support the dysregulation of the DGC at inhibitory synapses and altered neuronal network activity and specific cognitive tasks via loss of a novel component, InSyn1.

Data availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Akiyoshi Uezu

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8478-4460
  2. Erin Hisey

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Yoshihiko Kobayashi

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7031-1478
  4. Yudong Gao

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Tyler WA Bradshaw

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Patrick Devlin

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0359-4620
  7. Ramona Rodriguiz

    Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Purushothama Rao Tata

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4837-0337
  9. Scott Soderling

    Department of Cell Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States
    For correspondence
    scott.soderling@duke.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-7808-197X

Funding

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS102456)

  • Scott Soderling

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL127181)

  • Purushothama Rao Tata

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All procedures were conducted with a protocol (#A224-17-09) approved by the Duke University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) in accordance with the US National Institutes of Health guidelines.

Copyright

© 2019, Uezu et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 2,066
    views
  • 326
    downloads
  • 22
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Akiyoshi Uezu
  2. Erin Hisey
  3. Yoshihiko Kobayashi
  4. Yudong Gao
  5. Tyler WA Bradshaw
  6. Patrick Devlin
  7. Ramona Rodriguiz
  8. Purushothama Rao Tata
  9. Scott Soderling
(2019)
Essential role for InSyn1 in dystroglycan complex integrity and cognitive behaviors in mice
eLife 8:e50712.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50712

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.50712

Further reading

    1. Neuroscience
    Simonas Griesius, Amy Richardson, Dimitri Michael Kullmann
    Research Article

    Non-linear summation of synaptic inputs to the dendrites of pyramidal neurons has been proposed to increase the computation capacity of neurons through coincidence detection, signal amplification, and additional logic operations such as XOR. Supralinear dendritic integration has been documented extensively in principal neurons, mediated by several voltage-dependent conductances. It has also been reported in parvalbumin-positive hippocampal basket cells, in dendrites innervated by feedback excitatory synapses. Whether other interneurons, which support feed-forward or feedback inhibition of principal neuron dendrites, also exhibit local non-linear integration of synaptic excitation is not known. Here, we use patch-clamp electrophysiology, and two-photon calcium imaging and glutamate uncaging, to show that supralinear dendritic integration of near-synchronous spatially clustered glutamate-receptor mediated depolarization occurs in NDNF-positive neurogliaform cells and oriens-lacunosum moleculare interneurons in the mouse hippocampus. Supralinear summation was detected via recordings of somatic depolarizations elicited by uncaging of glutamate on dendritic fragments, and, in neurogliaform cells, by concurrent imaging of dendritic calcium transients. Supralinearity was abolished by blocking NMDA receptors (NMDARs) but resisted blockade of voltage-gated sodium channels. Blocking L-type calcium channels abolished supralinear calcium signalling but only had a minor effect on voltage supralinearity. Dendritic boosting of spatially clustered synaptic signals argues for previously unappreciated computational complexity in dendrite-projecting inhibitory cells of the hippocampus.

    1. Neuroscience
    Jessica Royer, Valeria Kebets ... Boris C Bernhardt
    Research Article Updated

    Complex structural and functional changes occurring in typical and atypical development necessitate multidimensional approaches to better understand the risk of developing psychopathology. Here, we simultaneously examined structural and functional brain network patterns in relation to dimensions of psychopathology in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) dataset. Several components were identified, recapitulating the psychopathology hierarchy, with the general psychopathology (p) factor explaining most covariance with multimodal imaging features, while the internalizing, externalizing, and neurodevelopmental dimensions were each associated with distinct morphological and functional connectivity signatures. Connectivity signatures associated with the p factor and neurodevelopmental dimensions followed the sensory-to-transmodal axis of cortical organization, which is related to the emergence of complex cognition and risk for psychopathology. Results were consistent in two separate data subsamples and robust to variations in analytical parameters. Although model parameters yielded statistically significant brain–behavior associations in unseen data, generalizability of the model was rather limited for all three latent components (r change from within- to out-of-sample statistics: LC1within = 0.36, LC1out = 0.03; LC2within = 0.34, LC2out = 0.05; LC3within = 0.35, LC3out = 0.07). Our findings help in better understanding biological mechanisms underpinning dimensions of psychopathology, and could provide brain-based vulnerability markers.