Cav1.3 has been suggested to mediate hippocampal neurogenesis of adult mice and contribute to hippocampal-dependent learning and memory processes. However, the mechanism of Cav1.3 contribution in these processes is unclear. Here, roles of Cav1.3 of mouse dorsal hippocampus during newborn cell development were examined. We find that knock-out (KO) of Cav1.3 resulted in the reduction of survival of newborn neurons at 28 days old after mitosis. The retroviral eGFP expression showed that both dendritic complexity and the number and length of mossy fiber bouton (MFB) filopodia of newborn neurons at ≥ 14 days old were significantly reduced in KO mice. Both contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and object-location recognition tasks were impaired in recent (1 day) memory test while passive avoidance task was impaired only in remote (≥ 20 days) memory in KO mice. Results using adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated Cav1.3 knock-down (KD) or retrovirus-mediated KD in dorsal hippocampal DG area showed that the recent memory of CFC was impaired in both KD mice but the remote memory was impaired only in AAV KD mice, suggesting that Cav1.3 of mature neurons play important roles in both recent and remote CFC memory while Cav1.3 in newborn neurons is selectively involved in the recent CFC memory process. Meanwhile, AAV KD of Cav1.3 in ventral hippocampal area has no effect on the recent CFC memory. In conclusion, the results suggest that Cav1.3 in newborn neurons of dorsal hippocampus is involved in the survival of newborn neurons while mediating developments of dendritic and axonal processes of newborn cells and plays a role in the memory process differentially depending on the stage of maturation and the type of learning task.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate 3-kinase A (IP3K-A) regulates the level of the inositol polyphosphates, inositol trisphosphate (IP3) and inositol tetrakisphosphate to modulate cellular signaling and intracellular calcium homeostasis in the central nervous system. IP3K-A binds to F-actin in an activity-dependent manner and accumulates in dendritic spines, where it is involved in the regulation of synaptic plasticity. IP3K-A knockout mice exhibit deficits in some forms of hippocampus-dependent learning and synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus synapses of the hippocampus. In the present study, to further elucidate the role of IP3K-A in the brain, we developed a transgenic (Tg) mouse line in which IP3K-A is conditionally overexpressed approximately 3-fold in the excitatory neurons of forebrain regions, including the hippocampus. The Tg mice showed an increase in both presynaptic release probability of evoked responses, along with bigger synaptic vesicle pools, and miniature excitatory postsynaptic current amplitude, although the spine density or the expression levels of the postsynaptic density-related proteins NR2B, synaptotagmin 1, and PSD-95 were not affected. Hippocampal-dependent learning and memory tasks, including novel object recognition and radial arm maze tasks, were partially impaired in Tg mice. Furthermore, (R,S)-3,5-dihydroxyphenylglycine-induced metabotropic glutamate receptor long-term depression was inhibited in Tg mice and this inhibition was dependent on protein kinase C but not on the IP3 receptor. Long-term potentiation and depression dependent on N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor were marginally affected in Tg mice. In summary, this study shows that overexpressed IP3K-A plays a role in some forms of hippocampus-dependent learning and memory tasks as well as in synaptic transmission and plasticity by regulating both presynaptic and postsynaptic functions.