title: Modulation of spike timing by sensory deprivation during induction of cortical map plasticity.
abstract: Deprivation-induced plasticity of sensory cortical maps involves long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) of cortical synapses, but how sensory deprivation triggers LTP and LTD in vivo is unknown. Here we tested whether spike timing-dependent forms of LTP and LTD are involved in this process. We measured spike trains from neurons in layer 4 (L4) and layers 2 and 3 (L2/3) of rat somatosensory cortex before and after acute whisker deprivation, a manipulation that induces whisker map plasticity involving LTD at L4-to-L2/3 (L4-L2/3) synapses. Whisker deprivation caused an immediate reversal of firing order for most L4 and L2/3 neurons and a substantial decorrelation of spike trains, changes known to drive timing-dependent LTD at L4-L2/3 synapses in vitro. In contrast, spike rate changed only modestly. Thus, whisker deprivation is likely to drive map plasticity by spike timing-dependent mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Tansu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Celikel
authors.forename: Vanessa A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Szostak
authors.forename: Daniel E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Feldman
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011930:Reaction Time; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology