Dopamine D1/D5 receptor signaling regulates synaptic cooperation and competition in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons via sustained ERK1/2 activation

Synaptic cooperation and competition are important components of synaptic plasticity that tune synapses for the formation of associative long-term plasticity, a cellular correlate of associative long-term memory. We have recently reported that coincidental activation of weak synapses within the vicinity of potentiated synapses will alter the cooperative state of synapses to a competitive state thus leading to the slow decay of long-term plasticity, but the molecular mechanism underlying this is still unknown. Here, using acute hippocampal slices of rats, we have examined how increasing extracellular dopamine concentrations interact and/or affect electrically induced long-term potentiation (LTP) in the neighboring synapses. We demonstrate that D1/D5-receptor-mediated potentiation at the CA1 Schaffer collateral synapses differentially regulates synaptic co-operation and competition. Further investigating the molecular players involved, we reveal an important role for extracellular signal-regulated kinases-1 and 2 (ERK1/2) as signal integrators and dose-sensors. Interestingly, a sustained activation of ERK1/2 pathway seems to be involved in the differential regulation of synaptic associativity. The concentration-dependent effects of the modulatory transmitter, as demonstrated for dopaminergic signaling in the present study, might offer additional computational power by fine tuning synaptic associativity processes for establishing long-term associative memory in neural networks.