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Dopaminergic Regulation of Dendritic Calcium: Fast Multisite Calcium Imaging

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Dopamine

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 964))

Abstract

Optimal dopamine tone is required for the normal cortical function; however it is still unclear how cortical-dopamine-release affects information processing in individual cortical neurons. Thousands of glutamatergic inputs impinge onto elaborate dendritic trees of neocortical pyramidal neurons. In the process of ensuing synaptic integration (information processing), a variety of calcium transients are generated in remote dendritic compartments. In order to understand the cellular mechanisms of dopaminergic modulation it is important to know whether and how dopaminergic signals affect dendritic calcium transients. In this chapter, we describe a relatively inexpensive method for monitoring dendritic calcium fluctuations at multiple loci across the pyramidal dendritic tree, at the same moment of time (simultaneously). The experiments have been designed to measure the amplitude, time course and spatial extent of action potential-associated dendritic calcium transients before and after application of dopaminergic drugs. In the examples provided here the dendritic calcium transients were evoked by triggering the somatic action potentials (backpropagation-evoked), and puffs of exogenous dopamine were applied locally onto selected dendritic branches.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an R01 grant from National Institutes of Health (NIH)—grant number MH063503, and the NARSAD Young Investigator Award to S.D.A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA

    Wen-Liang Zhou, Katerina D. Oikonomou, Shaina M. Short & Srdjan D. Antic

Authors
  1. Wen-Liang Zhou
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  2. Katerina D. Oikonomou
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  3. Shaina M. Short
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  4. Srdjan D. Antic
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Srdjan D. Antic .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study, Dept. of Molecular Neuroscience, George Mason University, University Drive 4400, Fairfax, 22030, Virginia, USA

    Nadine Kabbani

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Zhou, WL., Oikonomou, K.D., Short, S.M., Antic, S.D. (2013). Dopaminergic Regulation of Dendritic Calcium: Fast Multisite Calcium Imaging. In: Kabbani, N. (eds) Dopamine. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 964. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-251-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-251-3_9

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-62703-250-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-62703-251-3

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