Visinin-like neuronal calcium sensor proteins regulate the slow calcium-activated afterhyperpolarizing current in the rat cerebral cortex.

Many neurons in the nervous systems express afterhyperpolarizations that are mediated by a slow calcium-activated potassium current. This current shapes neuronal firing and is inhibited by neuromodulators, suggesting an important role in the regulation of neuronal function. Surprisingly, very little is currently known about the molecular basis for this current or how it is gated by calcium. Recently, the neuronal calcium sensor protein hippocalcin was identified as a calcium sensor for the slow afterhyperpolarizing current in the hippocampus. However, while hippocalcin is very strongly expressed in the hippocampus, this protein shows a relatively restricted distribution in the brain. Furthermore, the genetic deletion of this protein only partly reduces the slow hyperpolarizing current in hippocampus. These considerations question whether hippocalcin can be the sole calcium sensor for the slow afterhyperpolarizing current. Here we use loss of function and overexpression strategies to show that hippocalcin functions as a calcium sensor for the slow afterhyperpolarizing current in the cerebral cortex, an area where hippocalcin is expressed at much lower levels than in hippocampus. In addition we show that neurocalcin δ, but not VILIP-2, can also act as a calcium sensor for the slow afterhyperpolarizing current. Finally we show that hippocalcin and neurocalcin δ both increase the calcium sensitivity of the afterhyperpolarizing current but do not alter its sensitivity to inhibition by carbachol acting through the Gαq-11-PLCβ signaling cascade. These results point to a general role for a subgroup of visinin-like neuronal calcium sensor proteins in the activation of the slow calcium-activated afterhyperpolarizing current.