Glutamate release during LTD at cerebellar climbing fiber-Purkinje cell synapses.
It is widely thought that persistent, use-dependent alterations in synaptic strength such as long-term synaptic potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) underlie at least a portion of memory traces in the brain, but the exact cellular locus of expression for these alterations remains to be determined. They could be expressed presynaptically as a decrease in transmitter release, postsynaptically as a decrease in the synaptic current evoked by a fixed delivery of transmitter, as an increase in the number of functional synaptic contacts, or by a combination of these mechanisms. Here we report that LTD at the climbing fiber-Purkinje cell synapse in rat cerebellum was not associated with changes in a synaptic cleft glutamate transient, indicating that this type of LTD is most likely expressed postsynaptically.
Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
Ying
Y
Shen
Christian
C
Hansel
David J
DJ
Linden
D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature; D013995:Time
D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D018698:Glutamic Acid