The back and forth of dendritic plasticity.
Synapses are located throughout the often-elaborate dendritic tree of central neurons. Hebbian models of plasticity require temporal association between synaptic input and neuronal output to produce long-term potentiation of excitatory transmission. Recent studies have highlighted how active dendritic spiking mechanisms control this association. Here, we review new work showing that associative synaptic plasticity can be generated without neuronal output and that the interplay between neuronal architecture and the active electrical properties of the dendritic tree regulates synaptic plasticity.
Williams
Stephen R
SR
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 0QH, UK. srw@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk <srw@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk>
Wozny
Christian
C
Mitchell
Simon J
SJ
D000818:Animals; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*