The expression level of CACNA1C-encoded CaV1.2 is a tipping point between promotion and inhibition of dendritic growth in neurons

The CACNA1C gene encodes the CaV1.2 L-type voltage-gated calcium channel, which plays a crucial role in neuronal signaling. CACNA1C is a risk gene for psychiatric conditions involving disruption of neuronal connectivity such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorders. While genomic studies are consistently reinforcing the notion of CACNA1C as an important locus related to these diseases, the role of CaV1.2 channels in determining neuronal architecture is incompletely understood. Several studies pinpoint the L-type current (ICaL) as regulator of dendritic arborization development. ICaL lays upstream of competing cellular mechanisms leading to both inhibition and promotion of dendritic growth. How signal selectivity is achieved remains an open question. Here, we report that ICaL -dependent dendritic development of murine cultured hippocampal neurons relies on CaV1.2 and is determined by an equilibrium between the level of CaV1.2 protein expression and ICaL activity. Indeed, increasing ICaL enhances dendritic complexity only when CaV1.2 expression level is reduced. In contrast, when channel levels are at baseline, the CaV1.2-dependent growing signal is overcome by the elevation of the dendritic growth inhibiting CaMKII signaling beyond basal conditions. These findings suggest that CaV1.2 expression level acts as a molecular switch between dendritic growing and inhibiting signals. Consequently, altered CaV1.2 expression during early development may alter neuronal structure, potentially impairing neural network formation and increasing susceptibility to psychiatric disorders.