Dendritic glutamate release produces autocrine activation of mGluR1 in cerebellar Purkinje cells

In recent years, it has become clear that, in addition to conventional anterograde transmission, signaling in neural circuits can occur in a retrograde manner. This suggests the additional possibility that postsynaptic release of neurotransmitter might be able to act in an autocrine fashion. Here, we show that brief depolarization of a cerebellar Purkinje cell triggers a slow inward current. This depolarization-induced slow current (DISC) is attenuated by antagonists of mGluR1 or TRP channels. DISC is eliminated by a mixture of voltage-sensitive Ca²⁺ channel blockers and is mimicked by a brief climbing fiber burst. DISC is attenuated by an inhibitor of vesicular glutamate transporters or of vesicular fusion. These data suggest that Ca²⁺-dependent postsynaptic fusion of glutamate-loaded vesicles evokes a slow inward current produced by activation of postsynaptic mGluR1, thereby constituting a useful form of feedback regulation.