Active dendrites regulate the impact of gliotransmission on rat hippocampal pyramidal neurons

An important consequence of gliotransmission, a signaling mechanism that involves glial release of active transmitter molecules, is its manifestation as N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)-dependent slow inward currents in neurons. However, the intraneuronal spatial dynamics of these events or the role of active dendrites in regulating their amplitude and spatial spread have remained unexplored. Here, we used somatic and/or dendritic recordings from rat hippocampal pyramidal neurons and demonstrate that a majority of NMDAR-dependent spontaneous slow excitatory potentials (SEP) originate at dendritic locations and are significantly attenuated through their propagation across the neuronal arbor. We substantiated the astrocytic origin of SEPs through paired neuron-astrocyte recordings, where we found that specific infusion of inositol trisphosphate (InsP3) into either distal or proximal astrocytes enhanced the amplitude and frequency of neuronal SEPs. Importantly, SEPs recorded after InsP3 infusion into distal astrocytes exhibited significantly slower kinetics compared with those recorded after proximal infusion. Furthermore, using neuron-specific infusion of pharmacological agents and morphologically realistic conductance-based computational models, we demonstrate that dendritically expressed hyperpolarization-activated cyclic-nucleotide-gated (HCN) and transient potassium channels play critical roles in regulating the strength, kinetics, and compartmentalization of neuronal SEPs. Finally, through the application of subtype-specific receptor blockers during paired neuron-astrocyte recordings, we provide evidence that GluN2B- and GluN2D-containing NMDARs predominantly mediate perisomatic and dendritic SEPs, respectively. Our results unveil an important role for active dendrites in regulating the impact of gliotransmission on neurons and suggest astrocytes as a source of dendritic plateau potentials that have been implicated in localized plasticity and place cell formation.