Alterations in synaptic transmission and long-term potentiation in hippocampal slices from young and aged PDAPP mice

1999 ◽  
Vol 840 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Larson ◽  
Gary Lynch ◽  
Dora Games ◽  
Peter Seubert
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl F Foley ◽  
Daniel Barnett ◽  
Deborah A Cory-Slechta ◽  
Houhui Xia

Background: Arsenic is a well-established carcinogen known to increase all-cause mortality, but its effects on the central nervous system are less well understood. Recent epidemiological studies suggest that early life exposure to arsenic is associated with learning deficits and behavioral changes, and increased arsenic exposure continues to affect an estimated 200 million individuals worldwide. Previous studies on arsenic exposure and synaptic function have demonstrated a decrease in synaptic transmission and long-term potentiation in adult rodents, but have relied on in vitro or extended exposure in adulthood. Therefore, little is known about the effect of arsenic exposure in development. Objective: Here, we studied the effects of gestational and early developmental arsenic exposure in juvenile mice. Specifically, our objective was to investigate the impact of arsenic exposure on synaptic transmission and plasticity in the hippocampus. Methods: C57BL/6 females were exposed to arsenic (0, 50ppb, 36ppm) in their drinking water two weeks prior to mating and continued to be exposed to arsenic throughout gestation and after parturition. We then performed field recordings in acute hippocampal slices from the juvenile offspring prior to weaning (P17-P23). In this paradigm, the juvenile mice are only exposed to arsenic in utero and via the mothers milk. Results: High (36ppm) and relatively low (50ppb) arsenic exposure both lead to decreased basal synaptic transmission in the hippocampus of juvenile mice. There was a mild decrease in paired-pulse facilitation in juvenile mice exposed to high, but not low, arsenic, suggesting the alterations in synaptic transmission are primarily post-synaptic. Finally, high developmental arsenic exposure led to a significant increase in long-term potentiation. Discussion: These results suggest that indirect, ecologically-relevant arsenic exposure in early development impacts hippocampal synaptic transmission and plasticity that could underlie learning deficits reported in epidemiological studies.


1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Long Ma ◽  
Gerald Reis ◽  
Luis F. Parada ◽  
Erin M. Schuman

Neurotrophic factors, including BDNF and NT-3, have been implicated in the regulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Previous attempts to analyze synaptic transmission and plasticity in mice lacking the NT-3 gene have been hampered by the early death of the NT-3 homozygous knockout animals. We have bypassed this problem by examining synaptic transmission in mice in which the NT-3 gene is deleted in neurons later in development, by crossing animals expressing the CRE recombinase driven by the synapsin I promoter to animals in which the NT-3 gene is floxed. We conducted blind field potential recordings at the Schaffer collateral–CA1 synapse in hippocampal slices from homozygous knockout and wild-type mice. We examined the following indices of synaptic transmission: (1) input-output relationship; (2) paired-pulse facilitation; (3) post-tetanic potentiation; and (4) long-term potentiation: induced by two different protocols: (a) two trains of 100-Hz stimulation and (b) theta burst stimulation. We found no difference between the knockout and wild-type mice in any of the above measurements. These results suggest that neuronal NT-3 does not play an essential role in normal synaptic transmission and some forms of plasticity in the mouse hippocampus.


1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1084-1090 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. L. Collingridge ◽  
J. F. Blake ◽  
M. W. Brown ◽  
Z. I. Bashir ◽  
E. Ryan

The present article reviews studies from our laboratory, which have shown that excitatory amino acid receptors of the N-methyl-D-aspartate type are involved in the induction of long-term potentiation in the Schaffer collateral–commissural pathway of rat hippocampal slices. The nature of the excitatory amino acid receptors that mediate the response that is modified by the induction of long-term potentiation is also considered. The mechanism of induction of long-term potentiation is discussed, as are some possible stages that are required for the maintenance of this process. Some new data are presented concerning the ability of N-methyl-D-aspartate to potentiate synaptic transmission and to depress the amplitude of the presynaptic fibre volley. Concerning the potentiation, it is shown that brief (1–2 min) perfusion of slices with N-methyl-D-aspartate is sufficient to potentiate synaptic transmission for at least 3 h. The N-methyl-D-aspartate induced depression of the presynaptic fibre volley is shown to be transient and independent of synaptic transmission.Key words: long-term potentiation, N-methyl-D-aspartate, a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid, synaptic plasticity, hippocampus.


1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 2034-2040 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Auerbach ◽  
M. Segal

1. We studied long-term cholinergic effects on synaptic transmission in submerged hippocampal slices using intra- and extracellular recording techniques. 2. Bath application of submicromolar concentrations of carbachol (CCh) produced a gradually developing, long-lasting increase in the CA1 excitatory postsynaptic potential and population spike. This potentiation was blocked by atropine and, hence, named muscarinic long-term potentiation (LTPm). Application of DL-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid had no effect on LTPm, indicating that this phenomenon is N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor independent. 3. These effects of CCh were not likely to be due to the blockade of one of several K+ conductances by the drug; the time and concentration dependence of LTPm were different from those associated with cholinergic blockade of K+ conductances. 4. Removal of extracellular calcium (Cao2+) from the bath blocked synaptic transmission. CCh added in calcium-free medium induced LTPm, which was revealed upon removal of the drug by washing with normal calcium-containing medium. Neither cutting CA1-CA3 connections nor cessation of synaptic stimulation interfered with LTPm induction. 5. Application of thapsigargin or H-7 together with CCh blocked LTPm, suggesting the involvement of intracellular calcium (Cai2+) stores and protein kinases, respectively, in the LTPm mechanism. 6. Subthreshold cholinergic stimulation coupled with subthreshold tetanic stimulation caused LTP. CCh had no effect when administered after the LTP mechanism had been saturated by repeated suprathreshold tetani. Tetanic stimulation failed to cause LTP when applied after LTPm had been induced by CCh. These experiments indicate that tetanus-induced potentiation and LTPm share a common mechanism and provide a direct link between ACh and mechanisms of synaptic plasticity.


2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (5) ◽  
pp. R1563-R1571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Germaine C. Lowe ◽  
Giamal N. Luheshi ◽  
Sylvain Williams

Prenatal exposure to infection is known to affect brain development and has been linked to increased risk for schizophrenia. The goal of this study was to investigate whether maternal infection and associated fever near term disrupts synaptic transmission in the hippocampus of the offspring. We used LPS to mimic bacterial infection and trigger the maternal inflammatory response in near-term rats. LPS was administered to rats on embryonic days 15 and 16 and hippocampal synaptic transmission was evaluated in the offspring on postnatal days 20–25. Only offspring from rats that showed a fever in response to LPS were tested. Schaffer collateral-evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) and fiber volleys in CA1 of hippocampal slices appeared smaller in offspring from the LPS group compared with controls, but, when the fEPSPs were normalized to the amplitude of fiber volleys, they were larger in the LPS group. In addition, intrinsic excitability of CA1 pyramidal neurons was heightened, as antidromic field responses in the LPS group were greater than those from control. Short-, but not long-term plasticity was impaired since paired-pulse facilitation of the fEPSP was attenuated in the LPS group, whereas no differences in long-term potentiation were noted. These results suggest that LPS-induced inflammation during pregnancy produces in the offspring a reduction in presynaptic input to CA1 with compensatory enhancements in postsynaptic glutamatergic response and pyramidal cell excitability. Neurodevelopmental disruption triggered by prenatal infection can have profound effects on hippocampal synaptic transmission, likely contributing to the memory and cognitive deficits observed in schizophrenia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (11) ◽  
pp. 3012-3022 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Félix-Oliveira ◽  
R. B. Dias ◽  
M. Colino-Oliveira ◽  
D. M. Rombo ◽  
A. M. Sebastião

Different forms of plasticity occur concomitantly in the nervous system. Whereas homeostatic plasticity monitors and maintains neuronal activity within a functional range, Hebbian changes such as long-term potentiation (LTP) modify the relative strength of specific synapses after discrete changes in activity and are thought to provide the cellular basis for learning and memory. Here, we assessed whether homeostatic plasticity could influence subsequent LTP in acute hippocampal slices that had been briefly deprived of activity by blocking action potential generation and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation for 3 h. Activity deprivation enhanced the frequency and the amplitude of spontaneous miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents and enhanced basal synaptic transmission in the absence of significant changes in intrinsic excitability. Changes in the threshold for Hebbian plasticity were evaluated by inducing LTP with stimulation protocols of increasing strength. We found that activity-deprived slices consistently showed higher LTP magnitude compared with control conditions even when using subthreshold theta-burst stimulation. Enhanced LTP in activity-deprived slices was also observed when picrotoxin was used to prevent the modulation of GABAergic transmission. Finally, we observed that consecutive LTP inductions attained a higher magnitude of facilitation in activity-deprived slices, suggesting that the homeostatic plasticity mechanisms triggered by a brief period of neuronal silencing can both lower the threshold and raise the ceiling for Hebbian modifications. We conclude that even brief periods of altered activity are able to shape subsequent synaptic transmission and Hebbian plasticity in fully developed hippocampal circuits.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document