Neuronal calcium channel alpha(1) subunit interacts with AMPA receptor, increasing its cell surface localisation

Abstract

Voltage-activated Ca2+ channels (Ca-v) play critical roles in excitable cells including neurons. Unlike the well-defined roles of Ca(v)2 for pre-synaptic neurotransmission, the post-synaptic function of Ca(v)2 is unclear. Based on our previous study demonstrating the postsynaptic association of the Ca(v)2 with the AMPA receptor (AMPA-R), in this study we sought to further analyse the Ca(v)2-AMPA-R association. We used a step-by-step dissociation of partially purified native Ca(v)2-AMPA-R complexes and co-immunoprecipitation of the Ca(v)2-AMPA-R complexes expressed in HEK293T cells to demonstrate that the main subunit of Ca-v, alpha(1), formed a complex with the AMPA-R without the auxiliary subunits beta, alpha(2)delta, gamma(2/3). The alpha(1) subunit increased the cell-surface localisation of the AMPA-R, which could be a post-synaptic function of the Ca(v)2. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.