Development of long-term potentiation in the somatosensory cortex of rats of different ages.
The age dependence of possible long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in rat somatosensory cortex was studied in in vitro slice experiments. Coronal slices were prepared from the somatosensory cortex of rats of different ages, and excitatory postsynaptic potentials evoked by stimulation of the white matter (0.1 Hz, subthreshold for spike) were recorded intracellularly. In 70% of the slices taken from 2-week-old rats, a moderate potentiation (20-30%) could be induced by either 5 or 100 Hz stimulation. No LTP was observed in younger (1 week) or older (3 weeks) cortex. On the basis of our experiments an important ontogenetic role of increased synaptic efficacy is suggested in a critical developmental period of rats after birth.
Világi
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Department of Comparative Physiology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Tarnawa
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Banczerowski-Pelyhe
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D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D004056:Differential Threshold; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology