Differential homeostatic regulation of glycinergic and GABAergic nanocolumns at mixed inhibitory synapses

Super-resolution imaging of synapses has revealed that key synaptic proteins are dynamically organized within sub-synaptic domains (SSDs). At mixed inhibitory synapses in spinal cord neurons, both GlyRs and GABAARs reside at the same post-synaptic density (PSD). To examine how the different inhibitory receptors are organized and regulated, we carried out dual-color direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM). We found that endogenous GlyRs and GABAARs as well as their common scaffold protein gephyrin form SSDs that align with pre-synaptic RIM1/2, thus forming trans-synaptic nanocolumns. Strikingly, GlyRs and GABAARs occupy different sub-synaptic spaces, exhibiting only a partial overlap at mixed inhibitory synapses. When network activity was increased by pharmacological treatment using the K+ channel blocker 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), the GABAAR copy numbers of as well as the number of GABAAR SSDs were reduced, while GlyRs remained largely unchanged. This differential regulation is likely the result of changes in gephyrin phosphorylation that preferentially occurred outside of the SSDs. The total gephyrin content was not altered by 4-AP application. The activity-dependent regulation of GABAARs versus GlyRs suggests that different signaling pathways control their respective sub-synaptic organization. Whereas gephyrin serves as a scaffold protein that upholds GlyR numbers at SSDs, it may act as a switch regulating GABAARs via its phosphorylation state. Taken together, our data reinforce the notion that the precise sub-synaptic organization of GlyRs, GABAARs and gephyrin has functional consequences for the homeostatic regulation of mixed inhibitory synapses. HighlightsAlignment of sub-synaptic domains (SSDs) in trans-synaptic nanocolumns at inhibitory synapses Differential spatial organization of SSDs formed by GlyRs and GABAARs at mixed inhibitory synapses Activity-dependent regulation of GABAARs but not GlyRs at mixed inhibitory synapses Gephyrin phosphorylation is compartmentalized in SSDs within the synaptic scaffold