Motor dysfunction and altered synaptic transmission at the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse in mice lacking potassium channels Kv3.1 and Kv3.3

Mice lacking both Kv3.1 and both Kv3.3 K⁺ channel alleles display severe motor deficits such as tremor, myoclonus, and ataxic gait. Mice lacking one to three alleles at the Kv3.1 and Kv3.3 loci exhibit in an allele dose-dependent manner a modest degree of ataxia. Cerebellar granule cells coexpress Kv3.1 and Kv3.3 K⁺ channels and are therefore candidate neurons that might be involved in these behavioral deficits. Hence, we investigated the synaptic mechanisms of transmission in the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell system. Action potentials of parallel fibers were broader in mice lacking both Kv3.1 and both Kv3.3 alleles and in mice lacking both Kv3. 1 and a single Kv3.3 allele compared with those of wild-type mice. The transmission of high-frequency trains of action potentials was only impaired at 200 Hz but not at 100 Hz in mice lacking both Kv3.1 and Kv3.3 genes. However, paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) at parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapses was dramatically reduced in a gene dose-dependent manner in mice lacking Kv3.1 or Kv3.3 alleles. Normal PPF could be restored by reducing the extracellular Ca²⁺ concentration indicating that increased activity-dependent presynaptic Ca²⁺ influx, at least in part, caused the altered PPF in mutant mice. Induction of metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated EPSCs was facilitated, whereas long-term depression was not impaired but rather facilitated in Kv3.1/Kv3.3 double-knockout mice. These results demonstrate the importance of Kv3 potassium channels in regulating the dynamics of synaptic transmission at the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse and suggest a correlation between short-term plasticity at the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse and motor performance.