title: Monitoring synaptic plasticity by imaging AMPA receptor content and dynamics on dendritic spines.
abstract: Time-lapse imaging techniques are widely used to monitor dendritic spine dynamics, a measurement of synaptic plasticity. However, it is challenging to follow the dynamics of spines over an extended period in vivo during development or in deep brain structures that are beyond the reach of traditional microscopes. Here, we describe an AMPA receptor-based optical approach to monitor recent history of synaptic plasticity. This method allows the identification of spines that have recently acquired synaptic AMPA receptors in a single imaging session, so that synaptic plasticity that occurs in vivo in a variety of conditions can be simply imaged in an ex vivo preparation.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D018274:Electroporation; D004789:Enzyme Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D019426:Integrases / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D057054:Molecular Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000187:drug effects; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism*; D013569:Synapses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013629:Tamoxifen / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D013629:Tamoxifen; C016601:afimoxifene; C045073:Cre recombinase; D019426:Integrases