title: Homeostatic Plasticity of Subcellular Neuronal Structures: From Inputs to Outputs.
abstract: Neurons in the brain are highly plastic, allowing an organism to learn and adapt to its environment. However, this ongoing plasticity is also inherently unstable, potentially leading to aberrant levels of circuit activity. Homeostatic forms of plasticity are thought to provide a means of controlling neuronal activity by avoiding extremes and allowing network stability. Recent work has shown that many of these homeostatic modifications change the structure of subcellular neuronal compartments, ranging from changes to synaptic inputs at both excitatory and inhibitory compartments to modulation of neuronal output through changes at the axon initial segment (AIS) and presynaptic terminals. Here we review these different forms of structural plasticity in neurons and the effects they may have on network function.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK. Electronic address: winnie.wefelmeyer@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Winnie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wefelmeyer
authors.affiliation: Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Puhl
authors.affiliation: Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, New Hunt's House, Guy's Hospital Campus, London, SE1 1UL, UK. Electronic address: juan.burrone@kcl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burrone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology*; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: axon initial segment; dendritic spines; homeostatic plasticity; presynaptic terminals; structural plasticity