title: Dark rearing alters the short-term synaptic plasticity in visual cortex.
abstract: The strength of all chemical synapses can be rapidly up- or down-regulated by their recent activities to reshape the postsynaptic signal through a mechanism of short-term facilitation or depression. It is also true that sensory experience is essential for maturation of cortical circuits and function. We studied the effect of sensory experience on the short-term plasticity in brain slices of rat visual cortex. Repetitive stimulation was applied in layer II/III and the response of pyramidal neuron in layer V was examined by whole-cell recording. We deprived the visual experience of rats by rearing the animals in dark environment. We found that dark rearing (DR) had no effects on paired-pulse interactions of either excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) or inhibitory postsynaptic currents (IPSCs). However, DR increased the level of IPSCs steady-state depression at stimulation frequency of 20Hz or more. This result, together with the finding that DR reduced the excitability of neural circuit in visual cortex, suggested a compensatory mechanism, which may be important in enhancing the network excitability at a time when synapses are immature.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Ai-Hui
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.forename: Shi-Qiang
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018118:Chloride Channels / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D003624:Darkness; D004594:Electrophysiology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000187:drug effects; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A / Q000502:physiology; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018118:Chloride Channels; D011963:Receptors, GABA-A; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate