Differential regulation of synapsin phosphorylation by monocular deprivation in juveniles and adults

The rodent visual cortex retains significant ocular dominance plasticity beyond the traditional postnatal critical period. However, the intracellular mechanisms that underlie the cortical response to monocular deprivation are predicted to be different in juveniles and adults. Here we show monocular deprivation in adult, but not juvenile rats, induced an increase in the phosphorylation of the prominent presynaptic effecter protein synapsin at two key sites known to regulate synapsin function. Monocular deprivation in adults induced an increase in synapsin phosphorylation at the PKA consensus site (site 1) and the CaMKII consensus site (site 3) in the visual cortex ipsilateral to the deprived eye, which is dominated by non-deprived eye input. The increase in synapsin phosphorylation was observed in total cortical homogenate, but not synaptoneurosomes, suggesting that the pool of synapsin targeted by monocular deprivation in adults does not co-fractionate with excitatory synapses. Phosphorylation of sites 1 and 3 stimulates the release of synaptic vesicles from a reserve pool and increases in the probability of evoked neurotransmitter release, which may contribute to the strengthening of the non-deprived input characteristic of ocular dominance plasticity in adults.