Asynchronous Ca 2 + current conducted by voltage-gated Ca 2+ (Ca V )-2.1 and Ca V 2.2 channels and its implications for asynchronous neurotransmitter release

We have identified an asynchronously activated Ca 2+ current through voltage-gated Ca 2+ (Ca V )-2.1 and Ca V 2.2 channels, which conduct P/Q- and N-type Ca 2+ currents that initiate neurotransmitter release. In nonneuronal cells expressing Ca V 2.1 or Ca V 2.2 channels and in hippocampal neurons, prolonged Ca 2+ entry activates a Ca 2+ current, I Async , which is observed on repolarization and decays slowly with a half-time of 150–300 ms. I Async is not observed after L-type Ca 2+ currents of similar size conducted by Ca V 1.2 channels. I Async is Ca 2+ -selective, and it is unaffected by changes in Na + , K + , Cl − , or H + or by inhibitors of a broad range of ion channels. During trains of repetitive depolarizations, I Async increases in a pulse-wise manner, providing Ca 2+ entry that persists between depolarizations. In single-cultured hippocampal neurons, trains of depolarizations evoke excitatory postsynaptic currents that show facilitation followed by depression accompanied by asynchronous postsynaptic currents that increase steadily during the train in parallel with I Async . I Async is much larger for slowly inactivating Ca V 2.1 channels containing β 2a -subunits than for rapidly inactivating channels containing β 1b -subunits. I Async requires global rises in intracellular Ca 2+ , because it is blocked when Ca 2+ is chelated by 10 mM EGTA in the patch pipette. Neither mutations that prevent Ca 2+ binding to calmodulin nor mutations that prevent calmodulin regulation of Ca V 2.1 block I Async . The rise of I Async during trains of stimuli, its decay after repolarization, its dependence on global increases of Ca 2+ , and its enhancement by β 2a -subunits all resemble asynchronous release, suggesting that I Async is a Ca 2+ source for asynchronous neurotransmission. Asynchronous neurotransmitter release is thought to play an important role in processing and transmission of information at synapses by converting the information contained in the frequency of a series of action potentials into a change in the extent of release of neurotransmitters at synapses. I Async may trigger this information-encoding and -transmitting process by providing a source of asynchronous Ca 2+ entry; this source integrates the frequency of action potentials and initiates asynchronous neurotransmitter release that increases progressively with the frequency and duration of action potential generation. To directly examine the possibility that I Async can contribute to async