RGS14 Restricts Plasticity in Hippocampal CA2 by Limiting Postsynaptic Calcium Signaling

Pyramidal neurons in hippocampal area CA2 are distinct from neighboring CA1 in that they resist synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) at CA3 Schaffer collateral synapses. Regulator of G protein signaling 14 (RGS14) is a complex scaffolding protein enriched in CA2 dendritic spines that naturally blocks CA2 synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent learning, but the cellular mechanisms by which RGS14 gates LTP are largely unexplored. A previous study has attributed the lack of plasticity to higher rates of calcium (Ca²⁺) buffering and extrusion in CA2 spines. Additionally, a recent proteomics study revealed that RGS14 interacts with two key Ca²⁺-activated proteins in CA2 neurons: calcium/calmodulin and CaMKII. Here, we investigated whether RGS14 regulates Ca²⁺ signaling in its host CA2 neurons. We found that the nascent LTP of CA2 synapses caused by genetic knockout (KO) of RGS14 in mice requires Ca²⁺-dependent postsynaptic signaling through NMDA receptors, CaMK, and PKA, revealing similar mechanisms to those in CA1. We report that RGS14 negatively regulates the long-term structural plasticity of dendritic spines of CA2 neurons. We further show that wild-type (WT) CA2 neurons display significantly attenuated spine Ca²⁺ transients during structural plasticity induction compared with the Ca²⁺ transients from CA2 spines of RGS14 KO mice and CA1 controls. Finally, we demonstrate that acute overexpression of RGS14 is sufficient to block spine plasticity, and elevating extracellular Ca²⁺ levels restores plasticity to RGS14-expressing neurons. Together, these results demonstrate for the first time that RGS14 regulates plasticity in hippocampal area CA2 by restricting Ca²⁺ elevations in CA2 spines and downstream signaling pathways.