Long-Term Synaptic Depression

About: Long-Term Synaptic Depression is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 447 publications have been published within this topic receiving 43391 citations.

Synaptic Pruning by Microglia Is Necessary for Normal Brain Development

Abstract: Microglia are highly motile phagocytic cells that infiltrate and take up residence in the developing brain, where they are thought to provide a surveillance and scavenging function. However, although microglia have been shown to engulf and clear damaged cellular debris after brain insult, it remains less clear what role microglia play in the uninjured brain. Here, we show that microglia actively engulf synaptic material and play a major role in synaptic pruning during postnatal development in mice. These findings link microglia surveillance to synaptic maturation and suggest that deficits in microglia function may contribute to synaptic abnormalities seen in some neurodevelopmental disorders.

Homosynaptic long-term depression in area CA1 of hippocampus and effects of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor blockade.

Abstract: We tested a theoretical prediction that patterns of excitatory input activity that consistently fail to activate target neurons sufficiently to induce synaptic potentiation will instead cause a specific synaptic depression. To realize this situation experimentally, the Schaffer collateral projection to area CA1 in rat hippocampal slices was stimulated electrically at frequencies ranging from 0.5 to 50 Hz. Nine hundred pulses at 1-3 Hz consistently yielded a depression of the CA1 population excitatory postsynaptic potential that persisted without signs of recovery for greater than 1 hr after cessation of the conditioning stimulation. This long-term depression was specific to the conditioned input, ruling out generalized changes in postsynaptic responsiveness or excitability. Three lines of evidence suggest that this effect is accounted for by a modification of synaptic effectiveness rather than damage to or fatigue of the stimulated inputs. First, the effect was dependent on the stimulation frequency; 900 pulses at 10 Hz caused no lasting change, and at 50 Hz a synaptic potentiation was usually observed. Second, the depressed synapses continued to support long-term potentiation in response to a high-frequency tetanus. Third, the effects of conditioning stimulation could be prevented by application of NMDA receptor antagonists. Thus, our data suggest that synaptic depression can be triggered by prolonged NMDA receptor activation that is below the threshold for inducing synaptic potentiation. We propose that this mechanism is important for the modifications of hippocampal response properties that underlie some forms of learning and memory.

Synaptic scaling mediated by glial TNF-α

Abstract: Two general forms of synaptic plasticity that operate on different timescales are thought to contribute to the activity-dependent refinement of neural circuitry during development: (1) long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), which involve rapid adjustments in the strengths of individual synapses in response to specific patterns of correlated synaptic activity, and (2) homeostatic synaptic scaling, which entails uniform adjustments in the strength of all synapses on a cell in response to prolonged changes in the cell's electrical activity. Without homeostatic synaptic scaling, neural networks can become unstable and perform suboptimally. Although much is known about the mechanisms underlying LTP and LTD, little is known about the mechanisms responsible for synaptic scaling except that such scaling is due, at least in part, to alterations in receptor content at synapses. Here we show that synaptic scaling in response to prolonged blockade of activity is mediated by the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour-necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). Using mixtures of wild-type and TNF-alpha-deficient neurons and glia, we also show that glia are the source of the TNF-alpha that is required for this form of synaptic scaling. We suggest that by modulating TNF-alpha levels, glia actively participate in the homeostatic activity-dependent regulation of synaptic connectivity.

Endogenous nitric oxide release required for long-term synaptic depression in the cerebellum.

Abstract: Conjunctive stimulation of climbing and parallel fibres in the cerebellum evokes a long-term depression of parallel-fibre Purkinje-cell transmission, a phenomenon implicated as the cellular mechanism for cerebellar motor learning. It is suspected that the increase in cyclic GMP concentration that occurs after activation of climbing fibres is required to evoke long-term depression. Excitatory amino acids are known to cause the release of nitric oxide (NO), resulting in elevation of the cGMP level in the cerebellum. Here we report that endogenous NO is released after stimulation of climbing fibres, that long-term depression evoked by conjunctive stimulation of parallel and climbing fibres is blocked by haemoglobin (which strongly binds NO) or L-NG-monomethyl-arginine (an inhibitor of NO synthase), and that exogenous NO or cGMP can substitute for the stimulation of climbing fibres to cause long-term depression in rat cerebellar slices. These results demonstrate that the release of endogenous NO is essential for the induction of synaptic plasticity in the cerebellum.