Calcium dynamics in dendritic spines, modeling and experiments.

Dendritic spines are microstructures, about one femtoliter in volume, where excitatory synapses are made with incoming afferents, in most neurons of the vertebrate brain. The spine contains all the molecular constituents of the postsynaptic side of the synapse, as well as a contractile element that can cause its movement in space. It also contains calcium handling machineries to allow fast buffering of excess calcium that influx through voltage and NMDA gated channels. The spine is connected to the dendrite through a thin neck that serves as a variable barrier between the spine head and the parent dendrite. We review a novel modeling approach that is more suitable for the accurate description of the stochastic behavior of individual molecules in microstructures. Using this approach, we predict the calcium handling ability of the spine in complex situations associated with synaptic activity, spine motility and plasticity.

[1]  A. Berezhkovskii,et al.  Kinetics of escape through a small hole , 2002 .

[2]  Zeev Schuss,et al.  Theory and Applications of Stochastic Differential Equations , 1980 .

[3]  J. Lisman The CaM kinase II hypothesis for the storage of synaptic memory , 1994, Trends in Neurosciences.

[4]  M. Segal,et al.  Spike-Associated Fast Contraction of Dendritic Spines in Cultured Hippocampal Neurons , 2001, Neuron.

[5]  David Holcman,et al.  Modeling Calcium Dynamics in Dendritic Spines , 2005, SIAM J. Appl. Math..

[6]  S. Finkbeiner,et al.  AMPA receptors regulate transcription of the plasticity-related immediate-early gene Arc , 2006, Nature Neuroscience.

[7]  D Holcman,et al.  Calcium dynamics in dendritic spines and spine motility. , 2004, Biophysical journal.

[8]  P. Ascher,et al.  Mechanosensitivity of NMDA receptors in cultured mouse central neurons , 1994, Neuron.

[9]  M Segal,et al.  Geometry of dendritic spines affects calcium dynamics in hippocampal neurons: theory and experiments. , 1999, Journal of neurophysiology.

[10]  D. Friel Mitochondria as regulators of stimulus-evoked calcium signals in neurons. , 2000, Cell calcium.

[11]  M. Fischer,et al.  Rapid Actin-Based Plasticity in Dendritic Spines , 1998, Neuron.

[12]  R. Yuste,et al.  Mechanisms of Calcium Decay Kinetics in Hippocampal Spines: Role of Spine Calcium Pumps and Calcium Diffusion through the Spine Neck in Biochemical Compartmentalization , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[13]  Idan Segev,et al.  Methods in Neuronal Modeling , 1988 .

[14]  John B. Shoven,et al.  I , Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal.

[15]  M. Fischer,et al.  Glutamate receptors regulate actin-based plasticity in dendritic spines , 2000, Nature Neuroscience.

[16]  R. Zucker,et al.  Facilitation through buffer saturation: constraints on endogenous buffering properties. , 2004, Biophysical journal.

[17]  M. Segal,et al.  Regulation of Dendritic Spine Motility in Cultured Hippocampal Neurons , 2001, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[18]  T. Bartol,et al.  Monte Carlo simulation of miniature endplate current generation in the vertebrate neuromuscular junction. , 1991, Biophysical journal.

[19]  Eduard Korkotian,et al.  Dendritic spine formation and pruning: common cellular mechanisms? , 2000, Trends in Neurosciences.

[20]  Terrence J Sejnowski,et al.  A Monte Carlo model reveals independent signaling at central glutamatergic synapses. , 2002, Biophysical journal.

[21]  C. Koch,et al.  The function of dendritic spines: devices subserving biochemical rather than electrical compartmentalization , 1993, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[22]  L. Arnold Stochastic Differential Equations: Theory and Applications , 1992 .

[23]  W. J. Nowack Methods in Neuronal Modeling , 1991, Neurology.

[24]  L. Loew,et al.  Quantitative cell biology with the Virtual Cell. , 2003, Trends in cell biology.

[25]  Robert M. Miura,et al.  Asymptotic Analysis of Buffered Calcium Diffusion near a Point Source , 2001, SIAM J. Appl. Math..

[26]  K. Svoboda,et al.  Structure and function of dendritic spines. , 2002, Annual review of physiology.

[27]  T. H. Brown,et al.  Biophysical model of a Hebbian synapse. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.