In the hippocampus, signalling through G protein-coupled receptors is modulated by Regulators of G protein Signalling (Rgs) proteins, which act to stimulate the rate of GTP hydrolysis, and consequently, G protein inactivation. The R7-Rgs subfamily selectively deactivates the Gi/o-class of Gα subunits that mediate the action of several GPCRs. Here, we used co-immunoprecipitation, electrophysiology and immunoelectron microscopy techniques to investigate the formation of macromolecular complexes and spatial relationship of Rgs7/Gβ5 complexes and its prototypical signalling partners, the GABAB receptor and Girk channel. Co-expression of recombinant GABAB receptors and Girk channels in combination with co-immunoprecipitation experiments established that the Rgs7/Gβ5 forms complexes with GABAB receptors or Girk channels. Using electrophysiological experiments, we found that GABAB-Girk current deactivation kinetics was markedly faster in cells co-expressing Rgs7/Gβ5. At the electron microscopic level, immunolabelling for Rgs7 and Gβ5 proteins was found primarily in the dendritic layers of the hippocampus and showed similar distribution patterns. Immunoreactivity was mostly localized along the extrasynaptic plasma membrane of dendritic shafts and spines of pyramidal cells and, to a lesser extent, to that of presynaptic terminals. Quantitative analysis of immunogold particles for Rgs7 and Gβ5 revealed an enrichment of the two proteins around excitatory synapses on dendritic spines, virtually identical to that of Girk2 and GABAB1. These data support the existence of macromolecular complexes composed of GABAB receptor-G protein-Rgs7-Girk channels, in which Rgs7 and Gβ5 proteins may preferentially modulate GABAB receptor signalling through the deactivation of Girk channels on dendritic spines. In contrast, Rgs7 and Girk2 were associated but mainly segregated from GABAB1 in dendritic shafts, where Rgs7/Gβ5 signalling complexes might modulate Girk-dependent signalling via a different metabotropic receptor(s).

G protein-gated inwardly rectifying K + (Girk/K IR 3) channels mediate the inhibitory effect of many neurotransmitters on excitable cells. Girk channels are tetramers consisting of various combinations of four mammalian Girk subunits (Girk1 to -4). Although Girk1 is unable to form functional homomeric channels, its presence in cardiac and neuronal channel complexes correlates with robust channel activity. This study sought to better understand the potentiating influence of Girk1, using the GABA B receptor and Girk1/Girk2 heteromer as a model system. Girk1 did not increase the protein levels or alter the trafficking of Girk2-containing channels to the cell surface in transfected cells or hippocampal neurons, indicating that its potentiating influence involves enhancement of channel activity. Structural elements in both the distal carboxyl-terminal domain and channel core were identified as key determinants of robust channel activity. In the distal carboxyl-terminal domain, residue Q404 was identified as a key determinant of receptor-induced channel activity. In the Girk1 core, three unique residues in the pore (P) loop (F137, A142, Y150) were identified as a collective potentiating influence on both receptor-dependent and receptorindependent channel activity, exerting their influence, at least in part, by enhancing mean open time and single-channel conductance. Interestingly, the potentiating influence of the Girk1 P-loop is tempered by residue F162 in the second membrane-spanning domain. Thus, discontinuous and sometime opposing elements in Girk1 underlie the Girk1-dependent potentiation of receptor-dependent and receptor-independent heteromeric channel activity.ion channel | electrophysiology | mutagenesis | baclofen