Ca2+-dependent protein kinase injection in a photoreceptor mimics biophysical effects of associative learning.
Iontophoretic injection of phosphorylase kinase, a Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase, increased input resistance, enhanced the long-lasting depolarization component of the light response, and reduced the early transient outward K+ current, IA, and the late K+ currents, IB, in type B photoreceptors of Hermissenda crassicornis in a Ca2+-dependent manner. Since behavioral and biophysical studies have shown that similar membrane changes persist after associative conditioning, these results suggest that Ca2+-dependent protein phosphorylation could mediate the long-term modulation of specific K+ channels as a step in the generation of a coditioned behavioral change.
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D006737:Horseshoe Crabs; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000187:drug effects; D007478:Iontophoresis; D007858:Learning; D008027:Light; D008974:Mollusca; D010764:Phosphorylase Kinase / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010786:Photoreceptor Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D011188:Potassium / Q000378:metabolism
D007473:Ion Channels; D010764:Phosphorylase Kinase; D011188:Potassium