Increased vesicle fusion competence underlies long-term potentiation at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses

Presynaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) is thought to play an important role in learning and memory. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive because of the difficulty of direct recording during LTP. Hippocampal mossy fiber synapses exhibit pronounced LTP of transmitter release after tetanic stimulation and have been used as a model of presynaptic LTP. Here, we induced LTP by optogenetic tools and applied direct presynaptic patch-clamp recordings. The action potential waveform and evoked presynaptic Ca²⁺ currents remained unchanged after LTP induction. Membrane capacitance measurements suggested higher release probability of synaptic vesicles without changing the number of release-ready vesicles after LTP induction. Synaptic vesicle replenishment was also enhanced. Furthermore, stimulated emission depletion microscopy suggested an increase in the numbers of Munc13-1 and RIM1 molecules within active zones. We propose that dynamic changes in the active zone components may be relevant for the increased fusion competence and synaptic vesicle replenishment during LTP.

In vivo dynamics and adaptation of HTLV-1-infected clones under different clinical conditions

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) spreads through cell contact. Therefore, this virus persists and propagates within the host by two routes: clonal proliferation of infected cells and de novo infection. The proliferation is influenced by the host immune responses and expression of viral genes. However, the detailed mechanisms that control clonal expansion of infected cells remain to be elucidated. In this study, we show that newly infected clones were strongly suppressed, and then stable clones were selected, in a patient who was infected by live liver transplantation from a seropositive donor. Conversely, most HTLV-1⁺ clones persisted in patients who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from seropositive donors. To clarify the role of cell-mediated immunity in this clonal selection, we suppressed CD8⁺ or CD16⁺ cells in simian T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (STLV-1)-infected Japanese macaques. Decreasing CD8⁺ T cells had marginal effects on proviral load (PVL). However, the clonality of infected cells changed after depletion of CD8⁺ T cells. Consistent with this, PVL at 24 hours in vitro culture increased, suggesting that infected cells with higher proliferative ability increased. Analyses of provirus in a patient who received Tax-peptide pulsed dendritic cells indicate that enhanced anti-Tax immunity did not result in a decreased PVL although it inhibited recurrence of ATL. We postulate that in vivo selection, due to the immune response, cytopathic effects of HTLV-1 and intrinsic attributes of infected cells, results in the emergence of clones of HTLV-1-infected T cells that proliferate with minimized HTLV-1 antigen expression.

HTLV-1 spreads in vivo through two routes: de novo infection and clonal proliferation of infected cells. Reverse transcriptase inhibitors and integrase inhibitors do not influence the PVL in HTLV-1-infected individuals, indicating that clonal proliferation is dominant to maintain and increase PVL in vivo in the chronic phase. It is assumed that the host immune responses are critical factors for clonal proliferation. We found that HTLV-1-infected clones dramatically changed during de novo infection whereas the clones in the chronic phase survived long-term after transplantation, indicating that HTLV-1-infected clones are selected for survival in vivo. Surprisingly, depletion of CD8⁺ cells had a small impact on PVL in a STLV-1 infected Japanese macaque, but modified the clonality of infected cells. The cells after depletion of CD8⁺ cells showed a higher proliferative activity during short-term in vitro culture. This study reveals that intrinsic attributes of selected clones contribute to clonal proliferation of infected cells.