title: Synapse-specific metaplasticity: to be silenced is not to silence 2B.
abstract: What happens to a single, presynaptically quiescent synapse among a population of active synapses? In this issue of Neuron, Ehlers and colleagues show that, far from being eliminated, these inactive synapses are primed for potentiation and incorporation into a new neural circuit through an upregulation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, Curriculum in Neurobiology, and UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Philpot
authors.forename: R Suzanne
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Zukin