title: Compartmentalized versus global synaptic plasticity on dendrites controlled by experience.
abstract: Synapses in the brain are continuously modified by experience, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. In vitro and theoretical studies suggest threshold-lowering interactions between nearby synapses that favor clustering of synaptic plasticity within a dendritic branch. Here, a fluorescently tagged AMPA receptor-based optical approach was developed permitting detection of single-synapse plasticity in mouse cortex. Sensory experience preferentially produced synaptic potentiation onto nearby dendritic synapses. Such clustering was significantly reduced by expression of a phospho-mutant AMPA receptor that is insensitive to threshold-lowering modulation for plasticity-driven synaptic incorporation. In contrast to experience, sensory deprivation caused homeostatic synaptic enhancement globally on dendrites. Clustered synaptic potentiation produced by experience could bind behaviorally relevant information onto dendritic subcompartments; global synaptic upscaling by deprivation could equally sensitize all dendritic regions for future synaptic input.
authors.affiliation: Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biology and Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Malinow
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002451:Cell Compartmentation / Q000502:physiology*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000502:physiology; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology