Alberto Pereda

Associate Professor
Modulation in the CNS. Properties and plasticity of electrical and chemical synapses.

Kennedy Center
Room 431
(718) 430-3405

 

Properties and plasticity of electrical synapses

The research of our lab is devoted to the study of the plastic properties of synapses, in particular gap junction-mediated electrical synapses. Our goal is to understand the variety of cellular factors determining the strength of vertebrate electrical synapses. We use identifiable mixed, electrical and chemical, auditory synapses to the goldfish Mauthner cell, a large reticulospinal cell responsible for organizing sensory-evoked escape responses. Because of their unique experimental access, these synapses constitute an ideal experimental model to study the properties of gap junctions in the vertebrate nervous system. The experimental approach includes the combination of electrophysiological, pharmacological, biochemical, molecular and imaging techniques. Our research shows that the conductance of gap junction channels at these endings is dynamically modulated by the activity of their co-localized chemically mediated glutamatergic synapses, as well by the action of neurotransmitter modulators. We have determined the identity of the gap junction forming protein at these terminals (connexin35, the fish ortholog of widely expressed neuron-specific mammalian connexin36) as well several regulatory pathways responsible for the changes in they synaptic strength, which involve multifunctional Ca++/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaM-KII) and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Thus, our research aims to provide a description at the molecular and biophysical levels of the properties of electrical synapses in the context of the functional constraints imposed by a specific neural network.

 

 

Selected Publications

Curti, S., Pereda, A. (2004) Voltage-dependent enhancement of electrical coupling by a sub-threshold sodium current. The Journal of Neuroscience., 24:3999-4010.

Pereda, A., J. O'Brien, J. I. Nagy, F. Bukauskas, K. G. V. Davidson, N. Kamasawa, T. Yasumura, and Rash J. E. (2003) Connexin35 mediates electrical transmission at mixed synapses on Mauthner cells. The Journal of Neuroscience, 23, p.7489.

Smith, M., and Pereda, A. (2003) Chemical synaptic activity modulates nearby electrical synapses, Proc. Natl. Ac. of Sciences (USA), 100, p. 4849.

Pereda, A., Bell, T., Chang B., Czernik, A., Nairn, A., Soderling, T., and Faber D.S. (1998) Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II mediates simultaneous enhancement of gap junctional conductance and glutamatergic transmission. Proc. Natl. Ac. of Sciences (USA), 95, p. 13272.

Pereda, A., and Faber, D.S. (1996) Activity dependent short-term plasticity of intercellular coupling. The Journal of Neuroscience, 16, p. 983.

Pereda, A., Nairn, A., Wolszon, L. and Faber, D.S. (1994) Postsynaptic modulation of synaptic efficacy at mixed synapses on the Mauthner cell. The Journal of Neuroscience, 14, p. 3704.

Pereda, A., Triller, A., Korn, H. and Faber, D.S. (1992) Dopamine enhances both electrotonic coupling and chemical excitatory postsynaptic potentials at mixed synapses. Proc. Natl. Ac. of Sciences (USA), 89, p. 1208.