GSBS Student Publications

Title

Autoregulatory and paracrine control of synaptic and behavioral plasticity by octopaminergic signaling

Student Author(s)

James A. Ashley; Alex C. Koon; Shamik DasGupta

GSBS Program

Neuroscience

Publication Date

2011-02-01

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Neurobiology; Waddell Lab; Alkema Lab; Budnik Lab; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience Program

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Behavioral Neurobiology | Developmental Neuroscience | Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience | Neuroscience and Neurobiology

Abstract

Adrenergic signaling has important roles in synaptic plasticity and metaplasticity. However, the underlying mechanisms of these functions remain poorly understood. We investigated the role of octopamine, the invertebrate counterpart of adrenaline and noradrenaline, in synaptic and behavioral plasticity in Drosophila. We found that an increase in locomotor speed induced by food deprivation was accompanied by an activity- and octopamine-dependent extension of octopaminergic arbors and that the formation and maintenance of these arbors required electrical activity. Growth of octopaminergic arbors was controlled by a cAMP- and CREB-dependent positive-feedback mechanism that required Octβ2R octopamine autoreceptors. Notably, this autoregulation was necessary for the locomotor response. In addition, octopamine neurons regulated the expansion of excitatory glutamatergic neuromuscular arbors through Octβ2Rs on glutamatergic motor neurons. Our results provide a mechanism for global regulation of excitatory synapses, presumably to maintain synaptic and behavioral plasticity in a dynamic range.

DOI of Published Version

10.1038/nn.2716

Source

Nat Neurosci. 2011 Feb;14(2):190-9. Epub 2010 Dec 26. Link to article on publisher's website

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Nature Neuroscience

Related Resources

Link to article in PubMed

PubMed ID

21186359

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