Long-term depression at thalamocortical synapses in developing rat somatosensory cortex

被引:147
作者
Feldman, DE
Nicoll, RA
Malenka, RC [1 ]
Isaac, JTR
机构
[1] Univ Calif San Francisco, Dept Psychiat, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
[2] Univ Calif San Francisco, Dept Physiol, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
[3] Univ Calif San Francisco, Dept Mol & Cellular Pharmacol, San Francisco, CA 94143 USA
[4] Univ Bristol, Dept Anat, Bristol BS8 1TD, Avon, England
基金
英国惠康基金;
关键词
D O I
10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80544-9
中图分类号
Q189 [神经科学];
学科分类号
071006 ;
摘要
Sensory experience during an early critical period guides the development of thalamocortical circuits in many cortical areas. This process has been hypothesized to involve long-term potentiation (LTP) end longterm depression (LTD) at thalamocortical synapses. Here, we show that thalamocortical synapses in rat barrel cortex can express LTD, and that LTD is most readily induced during a developmental period that is similar to the critical period for thalamocortical plasticity in vivo. Thalamocortical LTD is homosynaptic and dependent on activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The age-related decline of LTD is not due to changes in inhibition nor to changes in NMDA receptor voltage dependence. Minimal stimulation experiments indicate that, unlike thalamocortical LTP, thalamocortical LTD is not associated with a significant change in failure rate. The existence of LTD and its developmental time course suggest that LTD, like LTP, may contribute to the refinement of thalamocortical inputs in vivo.
引用
收藏
页码:347 / 357
页数:11
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