|
Although there is a decline in brain plasticity across lifespan, neurons in certain areas of the adult brain
retain the ability to undergo synaptic, dendritic and spine remodeling in response to different stimuli. This neuronal
structural plasticity seems to be the basis for many cognitive processes and it is crucial for adaptive responses to
aversive experiences and recovery from brain damage and disease. Among the numerous candidate molecules that
have been identified for mediating this neuronal remodeling, cell adhesion molecules and, specially, the neural cell
adhesion molecule (NCAM), are of particular interest. The addition of polysialic acid (PSA) to the NCAM is critical
for the structural changes that underlie plasticity; not only because it prevents both homotypic and heterotypic
NCAM bindings (anti-adhesive properties) but also because it interacts with a large number of molecules and
signaling pathways that regulate synaptic strength. In consonance with this fact, PSA-NCAM expression, which is
very high during brain development, is only retained in adult brain regions that display a high degree of neuronal
structural plasticity. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which plays a crucial role in the control of cognitive
function and is affected in several psychiatric and neurological disorders, is one of these plastic regions and PSANCAM
expression can be found in neuropil elements and mature interneurons. The monoaminergic inputs to the
mPFC are presumed to modulate these functions. In fact, changes in monoamine release in the mPFC have been
described under conditions of stress, fear, or other affective stimuli and after working memory paradigms.
Impairments of dopaminergic neurotransmission affecting mPFC function are implicated in the pathogenesis of
several psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and major depression and also in the cognitive deficits and
depressive symptoms frequently found in Parkinson's disease. Moreover, recent evidences indicate that changes in
the structure and connectivity of neurons in the mPFC may also underlie the pathogenesis of these diseases and
that pharmacological treatments may revert these changes by enhancing the plasticity of neuronal connections.
Although most of the studies on neuronal structural plasticity have been focused on principal neurons, there is
abundant evidence that, in these psychiatric and neurological disorders, interneurons and cortical inhibitory
networks show abnormalities. Therefore, the neuronal plasticity of inhibitory networks may also be affected and
PSA-NCAM might be involved. For this reason, the main objectives of this thesis are to study the influence of
dopaminergic neurotransmission on the neuronal plasticity of prefrontocortical circuits and to evaluate whether
changes in the expression of PSA-NCAM are responsible for these neuroplastic changes. We have found that many
dopaminergic fibers were in close apposition to PSA-NCAM expressing interneurons which also co-expressed the
dopamine D2 receptor. Both the lesion of the mesocortical dopamine pathway and the chronic treatment with a D2R
antagonist, decrease the expression of PSA-NCAM, GAD67 (which mediates GABA synthesis) and synaptophysin
(SYN) in the mPFC neuropil. Chronic treatment with a D2R agonist has the opposite effects and induced temporal
differences in the expression of many other plasticity related genes. D2R agonist-induced increases in GAD67 and
SYN neuropil expression were blocked when PSA was previously removed, indicating a role for PSA-NCAM in this
plasticity. Cortical pyramidal neurons did not express PSA-NCAM, but parvalbumin (PV) axon terminals coexpressing
this molecule could be found surrounding their somata. PPHT treatment increased the number of PSANCAM
and PV expressing puncta. PSA depletion did not block these effects, but reinforced the increase of PV
expressing puncta, increases PV-SYN expressing puncta and decreases spine density in mPFC interneurons and
pyramidal neurons, suggesting that the polysialilation of NCAM may regulate the perisomatic inhibition of mPFC
pyramidal neurons and the structure of prefrontocortical neurons.
|