Corticostriatal plasticity: life after the depression.
Experience-dependent changes in corticostriatal transmission efficacy are likely to support the role of the striatum in reinforcement-based motor learning. Whereas long-term depression at glutamatergic corticostriatal synapses has long been regarded as the normal form of striatal plasticity, recent work provides evidence that use-dependent potentiation can naturally occur at these connections through an increase in both synaptic efficacy and postsynaptic intrinsic excitability. By decreasing the weight of cortical inputs required to fire striatal output neurons, short-term and long-term potentiation at corticostriatal connections can jointly participate in the formation of sensorimotor links by which specific context-dependent patterns of cortical activity can engage selected motor programs.
Mahon
Severine
S
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale U114, Chaire de Neuropharmacologie, Collège de France, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France. stephane.charpier@college-de-france.fr
Deniau
Jean-Michel
JM
Charpier
Stephane
S
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D036881:Long-Term Synaptic Depression / Q000502:physiology*; D008564:Membrane Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D017072:Neostriatum / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology