Activity-Dependent Inhibitory Synapse Scaling Is Determined by Gephyrin Phosphorylation and Subsequent Regulation of GABA_A Receptor Diffusion.

Synaptic plasticity relies on the rapid changes in neurotransmitter receptor number at postsynaptic sites. Using superresolution photoactivatable localization microscopy imaging and quantum dot-based single-particle tracking in rat hippocampal cultured neurons, we investigated whether the phosphorylation status of the main scaffolding protein gephyrin influenced the organization of the gephyrin scaffold and GABA_A receptor (GABA_AR) membrane dynamics. We found that gephyrin phosphorylation regulates gephyrin microdomain compaction. Extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) signaling alter the gephyrin scaffold mesh differentially. Differences in scaffold organization similarly affected the diffusion of synaptic GABA_ARs, suggesting reduced gephyrin receptor-binding properties. In the context of synaptic scaling, our results identify a novel role of the GSK3β signaling pathway in the activity-dependent regulation of extrasynaptic receptor surface trafficking and GSK3β, protein kinase A, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIα pathways in facilitating adaptations of synaptic receptors.

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