Long-Term Depression in Identified Stellate Neurons of Juvenile Rat Entorhinal Cortex

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 727-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pan-Yue Deng ◽  
Saobo Lei

The entorhinal cortex (EC) serves as a gateway to the hippocampus and plays a pivotal role in memory processing in the brain. Superficial layers of the EC convey the cortical input projections to the hippocampus, whereas deep layers of the EC relay hippocampal output projections back to the superficial layers of the EC or to other cortical regions. Whereas the EC expresses long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD), the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms have not been determined. Because the axons of the stellate neurons in layer II of the EC form the perforant path that innervates the dentate gyrus granule cells of the hippocampus, we studied the mechanisms underlying the long-term plasticity in identified stellate neurons. Application of high-frequency stimulation (100 Hz for 1 s, repeated 3 times at an interval of 10 s) or forskolin (50 μM) failed to induce significant changes in synaptic strength, whereas application of pairing (presynaptic stimulation at 0.33 Hz paired with postsynaptic depolarization from −60 to −10 mV for 5 min) or low-frequency stimulation (LFS, 1 Hz for 15 min) paradigm-induced LTD. Pairing- or LFS-induced LTDs were N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-dependent and occluded each other suggesting that they have the similar cellular mechanism. Pairing-induced LTD required the activity of calcineurin and involved AMPA receptor endocytosis that required the function of ubiquitin–proteasome system. Our study provides a cellular mechanism that might in part explain the role of the EC in memory.

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (20) ◽  
pp. E4670-E4679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tassilo Jungenitz ◽  
Marcel Beining ◽  
Tijana Radic ◽  
Thomas Deller ◽  
Hermann Cuntz ◽  
...  

Adult newborn hippocampal granule cells (abGCs) contribute to spatial learning and memory. abGCs are thought to play a specific role in pattern separation, distinct from developmentally born mature GCs (mGCs). Here we examine at which exact cell age abGCs are synaptically integrated into the adult network and which forms of synaptic plasticity are expressed in abGCs and mGCs. We used virus-mediated labeling of abGCs and mGCs to analyze changes in spine morphology as an indicator of plasticity in rats in vivo. High-frequency stimulation of the medial perforant path induced long-term potentiation in the middle molecular layer (MML) and long-term depression in the nonstimulated outer molecular layer (OML). This stimulation protocol elicited NMDA receptor-dependent homosynaptic spine enlargement in the MML and heterosynaptic spine shrinkage in the inner molecular layer and OML. Both processes were concurrently present on individual dendritic trees of abGCs and mGCs. Spine shrinkage counteracted spine enlargement and thus could play a homeostatic role, normalizing synaptic weights. Structural homosynaptic spine plasticity had a clear onset, appearing in abGCs by 28 d postinjection (dpi), followed by heterosynaptic spine plasticity at 35 dpi, and at 77 dpi was equally as present in mature abGCs as in mGCs. From 35 dpi on, about 60% of abGCs and mGCs showed significant homo- and heterosynaptic plasticity on the single-cell level. This demonstration of structural homo- and heterosynaptic plasticity in abGCs and mGCs defines the time course of the appearance of synaptic plasticity and integration for abGCs.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valérie Doyère ◽  
Bolek Srebro ◽  
Serge Laroche

Doyère, Valérie, Bolek Srebro, and Serge Laroche. Heterosynaptic LTD and depotentiation in the medial perforant path of the dentate gyrus in the freely moving rat. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 571–578, 1997. We examined the characteristics of heterosynaptic long-term depression (LTD) and depotentiation of previously established long-term potentiation (LTP) in the medial and lateral entorhinal afferents to the dentate gyrus in the awake rat. Rats were prepared for chronic recording of dentate gyrus evoked potentials to activation of the medial and lateral perforant paths. This study in awake rats confirms that heterosynaptic LTD can be induced at inactive medial perforant path synapses in conjunction with the induction of LTP produced by high-frequency stimulation of the lateral perforant path. This form of LTD was long lasting and reversible by tetanic stimulation delivered to the depressed pathway. In contrast, tetanic stimulation of the medial perforant path had only a small heterosynaptic effect on the lateral pathway, suggesting that the two input pathways to the dentate gyrus are not symmetrical in their ability to induce heterosynaptic LTD. We also examined the ability of high-frequency stimulation of one pathway to produce depotentiation of the other pathway. We found that when LTP was first induced in the medial perforant path, depotentiation was induced heterosynaptically by tetanization of the lateral pathway. Both newly established LTP (30 min) and LTP induced and saturated by repeated tetanic stimulation over several days can be depotentiated heterosynaptically. Moreover, depotentiation of the medial perforant path synapses was found to be linearly correlated with the magnitude of LTP induced in the lateral perforant path synapses, and subsequent tetanic stimulation of the depotentiated medial perforant path restored LTP to an extent that counterbalanced depotentiation. The saturation and repotentiation experiments provide clear support for the conclusion that the rapid reversal of LTP reflects true depotentiation of the medial input. Again, as with heterosynaptic LTD, tetanization of the medial perforant path had little effect on previously induced LTP in the lateral path. These results provide evidence that medial perforant path synapses can be depressed and depotentiated heterosynaptically. They suggest that in the intact rat synaptic changes in the afferents to the dentate gyrus from the lateral entorhinal cortex exert powerful control over ongoing or recent synaptic plasticity in the medial entorhinal afferents.


1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (10) ◽  
pp. 1156-1161 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Skelton ◽  
J. J. Miller ◽  
A. G. Phillips

Brief periods of high-frequency stimulation of hippocampal afferents produce long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission, but the minimum frequency capable of inducing this alteration in synaptic efficacy has not been specified. The present study used the repeated measurement of input–output curves in the perforant path – dentate gyrus system of freely moving rats to monitor synaptic efficacy and found that stimulation at 0.2 Hz, but not 0.04 Hz produced LTP. These results suggest that the minimum stimulation frequency capable of producing LTP is lower than previously described. Possible reasons for the discrepancy between the present and previous findings are discussed, along with the implications of low-frequency potentiation.


2002 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 528-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
David B.T. McMahon ◽  
German Barrionuevo

The direct perforant path (PP) projection to CA3 is a major source of cortical input to the hippocampal region, yet relatively little is known about the basic properties of physiology and plasticity in this pathway. We tested whether PP long-term potentiation (LTP) in CA3 possesses the Hebbian property of associativity; i.e., whether the firing of fibers of different orders can induce PP LTP. We stimulated PP with weak trains of high-frequency stimulation (HFS), which by itself was below the threshold for LTP induction. The identical HFS was effective in inducing LTP when the mossy fiber pathway (MF) was activated simultaneously, thus demonstrating associative plasticity between the two pathways. We also demonstrated associative LTP between PP and recurrent collateral fibers (RC). PP LTP was blocked by the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist 2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid in both the associative and homosynaptic induction conditions. Neither MF nor RC fiber HFS alone resulted in permanent changes in PP field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) amplitude. However, HFS delivered to either MF or RC alone led to transient heterosynaptic depression of the PP fEPSP. Our results support the conceptual framework that regards CA3 as an autoassociative memory network in which efficient retrieval of previously stored activity patterns is mediated by associative plasticity of the PP synapse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Faldini ◽  
Tariq Ahmed ◽  
Luc Bueé ◽  
David Blum ◽  
Detlef Balschun

AbstractMany mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) exhibit impairments in hippocampal long-term-potentiation (LTP), seemingly corroborating the strong correlation between synaptic loss and cognitive decline reported in human studies. In other AD mouse models LTP is unaffected, but other defects in synaptic plasticity may still be present. We recently reported that THY-Tau22 transgenic mice, that overexpress human Tau protein carrying P301S and G272 V mutations and show normal LTP upon high-frequency-stimulation (HFS), develop severe changes in NMDAR mediated long-term-depression (LTD), the physiological counterpart of LTP. In the present study, we focused on putative effects of AD-related pathologies on depotentiation (DP), another form of synaptic plasticity. Using a novel protocol to induce DP in the CA1-region, we found in 11–15 months old male THY-Tau22 and APPPS1–21 transgenic mice that DP was not deteriorated by Aß pathology while significantly compromised by Tau pathology. Our findings advocate DP as a complementary form of synaptic plasticity that may help in elucidating synaptic pathomechanisms associated with different types of dementia.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (13) ◽  
pp. 6397-6406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Chen ◽  
Xiao Li ◽  
Yin Ting Wong ◽  
Xuejiao Zheng ◽  
Haitao Wang ◽  
...  

Memory is stored in neural networks via changes in synaptic strength mediated in part by NMDA receptor (NMDAR)-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP). Here we show that a cholecystokinin (CCK)-B receptor (CCKBR) antagonist blocks high-frequency stimulation-induced neocortical LTP, whereas local infusion of CCK induces LTP. CCK−/−mice lacked neocortical LTP and showed deficits in a cue–cue associative learning paradigm; and administration of CCK rescued associative learning deficits. High-frequency stimulation-induced neocortical LTP was completely blocked by either the NMDAR antagonist or the CCKBR antagonist, while application of either NMDA or CCK induced LTP after low-frequency stimulation. In the presence of CCK, LTP was still induced even after blockade of NMDARs. Local application of NMDA induced the release of CCK in the neocortex. These findings suggest that NMDARs control the release of CCK, which enables neocortical LTP and the formation of cue–cue associative memory.


2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (6) ◽  
pp. 3082-3090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jokūbas Žiburkus ◽  
Emily K. Dilger ◽  
Fu-Sun Lo ◽  
William Guido

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether retinal activity can support long-term changes in synaptic strength in the developing dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of thalamus. To test for this we made use of a rodent in vitro explant preparation in which retinal afferents and the intrinsic circuitry of the LGN remain intact. We repetitively stimulated the optic tract with a tetanus protocol that approximated the temporal features of spontaneous retinal waves. We found the amplitude of extracellular field potentials evoked by retinal stimulation changed significantly after tetanus and that the polarity of these alterations was related to postnatal age. At a time when substantial pruning of retinal connections occurs (postnatal day 1 [P1] to P14), high-frequency stimulation led to an immediate and long-term depression (LTD). However, at times when pruning wanes and adultlike patterns of connectivity are stabilizing (P16 to P30), the identical form of stimulation produced a modest form of potentiation (long-term potentiation [LTP]). The LTD was unaffected by the bath application of γ-aminobutyric acid type A and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists. However, both LTD and LTP were blocked by L-type Ca2+-channel antagonists. Thus the Ca2+ influx associated with L-type channel activation mediates the induction of synaptic plasticity and may signal the pruning and subsequent stabilization of developing retinogeniculate connections.


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