Experience strengthening transmission by driving AMPA receptors into synapses.
The mechanisms underlying experience-dependent plasticity in the brain may depend on the AMPA subclass of glutamate receptors (AMPA-Rs). We examined the trafficking of AMPA-Rs into synapses in the developing rat barrel cortex. In vivo gene delivery was combined with in vitro recordings to show that experience drives recombinant GluR1, an AMPA-R subunit, into synapses formed between layer 4 and layer 2/3 neurons. Moreover, expression of the GluR1 cytoplasmic tail, a construct that inhibits synaptic delivery of endogenous AMPA-Rs during long-term potentiation, blocked experience-driven synaptic potentiation. In general, synaptic incorporation of AMPA-Rs in vivo conforms to rules identified in vitro and contributes to plasticity driven by natural stimuli in the mammalian brain.
Takahashi
Takuya
T
Jones Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.
Svoboda
Karel
K
Malinow
Roberto
R
D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000821:virology; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D051381:Rats; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012845:Sindbis Virus / Q000235:genetics; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000821:virology; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission; D014110:Touch; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology
D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins