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Addictive drugs usurp neural plasticity mechanisms that normally serve reward-related learning and memory, primarily by evoking changes in glutamatergic synaptic strength in the mesocorticolimbic dopamine circuitry. Here, we show that repeated cocaine exposure in vivo does not alter synaptic strength in the mouse prefrontal cortex during an early period of withdrawal, but instead modifies a Hebbian quantitative synaptic learning rule by broadening the temporal window and lowers the induction threshold for spike-timing-dependent LTP (t-LTP). After repeated, but not single, daily cocaine injections, t-LTP in layer V pyramidal neurons is induced at +30 ms, a normally ineffective timing interval for t-LTP induction in saline-exposed mice. This cocaine-induced, extended-timing t-LTP lasts for ∼1 week after terminating cocaine and is accompanied by an increased susceptibility to potentiation by fewer pre–post spike pairs, indicating a reduced t-LTP induction threshold. Basal synaptic strength and the maximal attainable t-LTP magnitude remain unchanged after cocaine exposure. We further show that the cocaine facilitation of t-LTP induction is caused by sensitized D1-cAMP/protein kinase A dopamine signaling in pyramidal neurons, which then pathologically recruits voltage-gated l-type Ca2+ channels that synergize with GluN2A-containing NMDA receptors to drive t-LTP at extended timing. Our results illustrate a mechanism by which cocaine, acting on a key neuromodulation pathway, modifies the coincidence detection window during Hebbian plasticity to facilitate associative synaptic potentiation in prefrontal excitatory circuits. By modifying rules that govern activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, addictive drugs can derail the experience-driven neural circuit remodeling process important for executive control of reward and addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuronal histone H3-lysine 4 methylation landscapes are defined by sharp peaks at gene promoters and other cis-regulatory sequences, but molecular and cellular phenotypes after neuron-specific deletion of H3K4 methyl-regulators remain largely unexplored. We report that neuronal ablation of the H3K4-specific methyltransferase, Kmt2a/Mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (Mill), in mouse postnatal forebrain and adult prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with increased anxiety and robust cognitive deficits without locomotor dysfunction. In contrast, only mild behavioral phenotypes were observed after ablation of the Mill ortholog Kmt2b/Mll2 in PFC. Impaired working memory after Kmt2a/Mll1 ablation in PFC neurons was associated with loss of training-induced transient waves of Arc immediate early gene expression critical for synaptic plasticity. Medial prefrontal layer V pyramidal neurons, a major output relay of the cortex, demonstrated severely impaired synaptic facilitation and temporal summation, two forms of short-term plasticity essential for working memory. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing in Mll1-deficient cortical neurons revealed downregulated expression and loss of the transcriptional mark, trimethyl-H3K4, at <50 loci, including the homeodomain transcription factor Meis2. Small RNAmediated Meis2 knockdown in PFC was associated with working memory defects similar to those elicited by Mll1 deletion. Therefore, mature prefrontal neurons critically depend on maintenance of Mll1-regulated H3K4 methylation at a subset of genes with an essential role in cognition and emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopamine (DA) plays crucial roles in the cognitive functioning of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which, to a large degree, depends on lasting neural traces formed in prefrontal networks. The establishment of these permanent traces requires changes in cortical synaptic efficacy. DA, via the D1-class receptors, is thought to gate or facilitate synaptic plasticity in the PFC, with little role recognized for the D2-class receptors. Here we show that, when significantly elevated, DA erodes, rather than facilitates, the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the PFC by acting at the far less abundant cortical D2-class receptors through a dominant coupling to the protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) activity in postsynaptic neurons. In mice with persistently elevated extracellular DA, resulting from inactivation of the DA transporter (DAT) gene, LTP in layer V PFC pyramidal neurons cannot be established, regardless of induction protocols. Acute increase of dopaminergic transmission by DAT blockers or over stimulation of D2 receptors in normal mice have similar LTP shutoff effects. LTP in mutant mice can be rescued by a single in vivo administration of D2-class antagonists. Suppression of post synaptic PP1 mimics and occludes the D2-mediated rescue of LTP in mutant mice and prevents the acute erosion of LTP byD2 agonists in normal mice. Our studies reveal a mechanistically unique heterosynaptic PP1 gate that is constitutively driven by background DA to influence LTP induction. By blocking prefrontal synaptic plasticity, excessiveDAmay prevent storage of lasting memory traces in PFC networks and impair executive functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we report that postsynaptic density protein of 95 kDa (PSD-95), a postsynaptic density scaffolding protein, classically conceptualized as being essential for the regulation of ionotropic glutamatergic signaling at the postsynaptic membrane, plays an unanticipated and essential role in mediating the actions of hallucinogens and atypical antipsychotic drugs at 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C serotonergic G-proteincoupled receptors. We show that PSD-95 is crucial for normal 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C expression in vivo and that PSD-95 maintains normal receptor expression by promoting apical dendritic targeting and stabilizing receptor turnover in vivo. Significantly, 5-HT2A- and 5-HT2Cmediated downstream signaling is impaired in PSD-95null mice, and the 5-HT2A-mediated head-twitch response is abnormal. Furthermore, the ability of 5-HT2A inverse agonists to normalize behavioral changes induced by glutamate receptor antagonists is abolished in the absence of PSD-95 in vivo. These results demonstrate that PSD-95, in addition to the well known role it plays in scaffolding macromolecular glutamatergic signaling complexes, profoundly modulates metabotropic 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptor function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classical dopaminergic signaling paradigms and emerging studies on direct physical interactions between the D1 dopamine (DA) receptor and the NMDA glutamate receptor predict a reciprocally facilitating, positive feedback loop. This loop, if not controlled, may cause concomitant overactivation of both D1 and NMDA receptors, triggering neurotoxicity. Endogenous protective mechanisms must exist. Here, we report that PSD-95, a prototypical structural and signaling scaffold in the postsynaptic density, inhibits D1-NMDA receptor subunit 1 (NR1)NMDAreceptor association and uncouplesNMDAreceptor-dependent enhancement of D1 signaling. This uncoupling is achieved, at least in part, via a disinhibition mechanism by which PSD-95 abolishes NMDA receptor-dependent inhibition of D1 internalization. Knockdown of PSD-95 immobilizes D1 receptors on the cell surface and escalates NMDA receptor-dependent D1 cAMP signaling in neurons. Thus, in addition to its role in receptor stabilization and synaptic plasticity, PSD-95 acts as a brake on the D1-NMDA receptor complex and dampens the interaction between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]