Homeostatic Shrinkage of Dendritic Spines Requires Melatonin Type 3 Receptor Activation During Sleep
High-frequency oscillatory activity in cognition-related neural circuits during wakefulness consistently induces the growth of dendritic spines and axonal terminals. Although these structural changes are essential for cognitive functions, it is hypothesized that if these newly expanded structures fail to establish functional connections, they may become superfluous. Sleep is believed to facilitate the reduction of such redundant structures to maintain neural homeostasis. However, the mechanisms underlying this pruning process during sleep remain poorly understood. In this study, that melatonin type 3 receptors (MT<sub>3</sub>Rs) are selectively expressed in the stellate neurons of the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is demonstrated, an area where high melatonin levels are detected during sleep. Activation of MT<sub>3</sub>Rs during sleep initiates the shrinkage of dendritic spines in stellate neurons by downregulating neural network activity and dephosphorylating synaptic proteins in the MEC. This process is disrupted when MT<sub>3</sub>R expression is knocked down or when MT<sub>3</sub>Rs are blocked during sleep. Notably, interference with MT<sub>3</sub>Rs in the MEC during sleep impairs the acquisition of spatial memory but does not affect object memory acquisition following sleep. These findings reveal novel molecular mechanisms involving melatonin and MT<sub>3</sub>Rs in the regulation of dendritic spine shrinkage during sleep, which is crucial for the acquisition and consolidation of spatial memory.
Authors
- Faguo Yue (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3867-4727)
- Chenggang Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2240-831X)
- Shuancheng Ren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5678-5842)
- Di Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5262-7030)
- Woo‐Ping Ge (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8219-1055)
- Jiehua Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9604-4232)
- Xuedan Chen
- Minmin Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7210-4170)
- Yan‐Jiang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6227-6112)
- Jianxia Xia
- Xiangdong Tang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6876-3328)
- Yixiang Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1277-3938)
- Zhian Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4439-537X)
- Fenlan Luo
- Quanhui Chen
- Xiaowei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0027-2420)
- Na Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3126-6835)
- Xin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1631-7750)
- Yaling Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1978-754X)
- Jie Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4554-3132)
- Dong Gao
- Shiyin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1550-4258)
- Hong Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8052-9574)
- Xiaoqian Yu
- Zhen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5685-3163)
- Min Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6154-9676)
- Chao He
Institutions
- Army Medical University (CN)
- Capital Medical University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- West China Hospital of Sichuan University (CN)
- Daping Hospital (CN)
- Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CN)
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CN)
- First People's Hospital of Chongqing (CN)
- Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology (CN)
- Chongqing Medical University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2024-08-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202400253
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.03
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China