PSD-95 and PSD-93 play critical but distinct roles in synaptic scaling up and down

Synaptic scaling stabilizes neuronal firing through the homeostatic regulation of postsynaptic strength, but the mechanisms by which chronic changes in activity lead to bidirectional adjustments in synaptic AMPA receptor (AMPAR) abundance are incompletely understood. Furthermore, it remains unclear to what extent scaling up and scaling down use distinct molecular machinery. PSD-95 is a scaffold protein proposed to serve as a binding "slot" that determines synaptic AMPAR content, and synaptic PSD-95 abundance is regulated by activity, raising the possibility that activity-dependent changes in the synaptic abundance of PSD-95 or other membrane-associated guanylate kinases (MAGUKs) drives the bidirectional changes in AMPAR accumulation during synaptic scaling. We found that synaptic PSD-95 and SAP102 (but not PSD-93) abundance were bidirectionally regulated by activity, but these changes were not sufficient to drive homeostatic changes in synaptic strength. Although not sufficient, the PSD-95 MAGUKs were necessary for synaptic scaling, but scaling up and down were differentially dependent on PSD-95 and PSD-93. Scaling down was completely blocked by reduced or enhanced PSD-95, through a mechanism that depended on the PDZ1/2 domains. In contrast, scaling up could be supported by either PSD-95 or PSD-93 in a manner that depended on neuronal age and was unaffected by a superabundance of PSD-95. Together, our data suggest that scaling up and down of quantal amplitude is not driven by changes in synaptic abundance of PSD-95 MAGUKs, but rather that the PSD-95 MAGUKs serve as critical synaptic organizers that use distinct protein-protein interactions to mediate homeostatic accumulation and loss of synaptic AMPAR.