Functional contributions of the plasma membrane calcium ATPase and the sodium-calcium exchanger at mouse parallel fibre to Purkinje neuron synapses

We investigated how two calcium clearance mechanisms, the sodium-calcium exchanger - NCX, and the plasma membrane calcium ATPase - PMCA2, function at the facilitating cerebellar parallel fibre to Purkinje neuron (PF-PN) synapse. Forward mode NCX helped recover PF presynaptic calcium elevations when the PFs received a double stimulation and the calcium load was sufficiently high. A smaller presynaptic calcium load evoked by a single PF stimulation failed to recruit NCX in wild-type mice but did so when PMCA2 was absent in PFs from PMCA2 knockout mice. Simulated calcium dynamics using a simple single-compartment model reported qualitatively similar effects. Functionally, reduced NCX activity in the absence of PMCA also prolonged the recovery of facilitation at the PF-PN synapse, beyond that seen by reduced NCX activity alone. We conclude that PMCA and NCX work in parallel to accurately shape residual presynaptic calcium recovery dynamics and fine-tune facilitation at this important cerebellar synapse.