title: Long-term depression and depotentiation in the sensorimotor cortex of the freely moving rat.
abstract: Activity-dependent reductions in synaptic efficacy are central components of recent models of cortical learning and memory. Here, we have examined long-term synaptic depression (LTD) and the reversal of long-term potentiation (depotentiation) of field potentials evoked in sensorimotor cortex by stimulation of the white matter in the adult, freely moving rat. Prolonged, low-frequency stimulation (1 Hz for 15 min) was used to induce either depotentiation or LTD. LTD was expressed as a reduction in the amplitude of both monosynaptic and polysynaptic field potential components. Both LTD and depotentiation were reliably induced by stimulation of the ipsilateral white matter. Stimulation of the contralateral neocortex induced only a depotentiation effect, which decayed more rapidly than that induced by ipsilateral stimulation (hours vs days). Although ipsilateral LTD was effectively induced by a single session of low-frequency stimulation, multiple sessions of stimulation, either massed or spaced, induced LTD effects that were larger in magnitude and longer lasting. Previously, we showed that the induction of long-term potentiation in the neocortex of chronic preparations required multiple, spaced stimulation sessions to reach asymptotic levels. Here, we report that LTD also required multiple stimulation sessions to reach asymptotic levels, but massed and spaced patterns of low-frequency stimulation were equally effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Froc
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Trepel
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Racine
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*