COBRE: LSU:PROJ 4:CYCLOOXYGENASES IN NEURONAL SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The long-term goal of this project is to understand the significance of cyclooxygenase (COX) metabolites in the initiation and expression of long-term synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. The bioactive lipids, arachidonic acid (AA) and platelet-activating factor (PAF), and phospholipase A2 (PLA2), the enzyme that generates them, have been implicated in expression or maintenance of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus. However, little is known about the role of prostaglandins (PGs) in synaptic plasticity. PGs are synthesized from AA via COX. Two COX isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2, have been identified. Neuronal COX-2 expression is rapidly induced by ischemic, seizures and NMDA-dependent synaptic activity. Further evidence shows that COX-2 is expressed in postsynaptic dendritic spines where active synapses are present. Our preliminary data indicate that selective COX-2 inhibitors, but not COX-1 inhibitors, reduce membrane excitability and high-frequency stimulation (HFS)- induced LTP in hippocampal neurons and that application of PGE2 rescues COX-2 inhibitor-induced suppressions of LTP induction and membrane excitability. This information implicates PGs synthesized by COX-2 for an important role in processing and storage of synaptic information. Recent evidence indicates that the back-propagating dendritic action potential is a critical element in the induction of long-term synaptic plasticity in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Thus, we hypothesize that synaptic activity-dependent synthesis of PGs catalyzed by COX-2 regulates the probability of LTP induction by modifying dendritic excitability of hippocampal pyramidal neurons. Four specific aims are proposed to test predictions of this hypothesis,: 1) synaptic activity-dependent synthesis of PG(s) by COX-2 increases dendritic excitability; 2) postsynaptic synthesis of PGs by COX-2 is activity-dependent; 3) localized application of AA and PG(s) will mimic the effect of coincident synaptic activity; and 4) COX-2 synthesized PG(s) regulates membrane excitability and long-term synaptic activity in hippocampal pyramidal neurons. The proposed project will further our understanding of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and will also contribute towards the understanding of the pathophysiology of neurological disorders such as epilepsy, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases.