Detection of silent cells, synchronization and modulatory activity in developing cellular networks.

Developing networks in the immature nervous system and in cellular cultures are characterized by waves of synchronous activity in restricted clusters of cells. Synchronized activity in immature networks is proposed to regulate many different developmental processes, from neuron growth and cell migration, to the refinement of synapses, topographic maps, and the mature composition of ion channels. These emergent activity patterns are not present in all cells simultaneously within the network and more immature "silent" cells, potentially correlated with the presence of silent synapses, are prominent in different networks during early developmental periods. Many current network analyses for detection of synchronous cellular activity utilize activity-based pixel correlations to identify cellular-based regions of interest (ROIs) and coincident cell activity. However, using activity-based correlations, these methods first underestimate or ignore the inactive silent cells within the developing network and second, are difficult to apply within cell-dense regions commonly found in developing brain networks. In addition, previous methods may ignore ROIs within a network that shows transient activity patterns comprising both inactive and active periods. We developed analysis software to semi-automatically detect cells within developing neuronal networks that were imaged using calcium-sensitive reporter dyes. Using an iterative threshold, modulation of activity was tracked within individual cells across the network. The distribution pattern of both inactive and active, including synchronous cells, could be determined based on distance measures to neighboring cells and according to different anatomical layers.

C-terminal interactors of the AMPA receptor auxiliary subunit Shisa9.

Shisa9 (initially named CKAMP44) has been identified as auxiliary subunit of the AMPA-type glutamate receptors and was shown to modulate its physiological properties. Shisa9 is a type-I transmembrane protein and contains a C-terminal PDZ domain that potentially interacts with cytosolic proteins. In this study, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening that yielded eight PDZ domain-containing interactors of Shisa9, which were independently validated. The identified interactors are known scaffolding proteins residing in the neuronal postsynaptic density. To test whether C-terminal scaffolding interactions of Shisa9 affect synaptic AMPA receptor function in the hippocampus, we disrupted these interactions using a Shisa9 C-terminal mimetic peptide. In the absence of scaffolding interactions of Shisa9, glutamatergic AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic currents in the lateral perforant path of the mouse hippocampus had a faster decay time, and paired-pulse facilitation was reduced. Furthermore, disruption of the PDZ interactions between Shisa9 and its binding partners affected hippocampal network activity. Taken together, our data identifies novel interaction partners of Shisa9, and shows that the C-terminal interactions of Shisa9 through its PDZ domain interaction motif are important for AMPA receptor synaptic and network functions.