Cacna1c: Protecting young hippocampal neurons in the adult brain

Neuropsychiatric disease is the leading cause of disability in the United States, and fourth worldwide.^1,2 Not surprisingly, human genetic studies have revealed a common genetic predisposition for many forms of neuropsychiatric disease, potentially explaining why overlapping symptoms are commonly observed across multiple diagnostic categories. For example, the CACNA1C gene was recently identified in the largest human genome-wide association study to date as a risk loci held in common across 5 major forms of neuropsychiatric disease: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder (MDD), autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.³ This gene encodes for the Ca_v1.2 subunit of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel (LTCC), accounting for 85% of LTCCs in the brain, while the Ca_v1.3 subunit comprises the remainder.⁴ In neurons, LTCCs mediate calcium influx in response to membrane depolarization,⁵ thereby regulating neurotransmission and gene expression. Here, we describe our recent finding that Ca_v1.2 also controls survival of young hippocampal neurons in the adult brain, which has been linked to the etiology and treatment of neuropsychiatric disease. We also describe the effective restoration of young hippocampal neuron survival in adult Ca_v1.2 forebrain-specific conditional knockout mice using the neuroprotective compound P7C3-A20.