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Synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus of awake C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice: Interstrain differences and parallels with behavior
Author(s) -
Jones M.W.,
Peckham H.M.,
Errington M.L.,
Bliss T.V.P.,
Routtenberg A.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
hippocampus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.767
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1098-1063
pISSN - 1050-9631
DOI - 10.1002/hipo.1053
Subject(s) - dentate gyrus , neuroscience , long term potentiation , perforant pathway , hippocampal formation , perforant path , psychology , hippocampus , synaptic plasticity , population , population spike , neuroplasticity , stimulation , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , receptor , environmental health
C57BL/6 mice consistently outperform DBA/2 mice in a range of hippocampal‐dependent spatial learning behaviors. We recorded evoked responses from the dentate gyrus of awake, freely‐moving mice and measured synaptic plasticity (LTP) and performance in a hippocampal‐dependent task in individual animals from these two inbred strains. Spatial alternation tasks confirmed the behavioral divergence between the two strains, with C57BL/6 mice demonstrating more robust alternation than DBA/2 mice. Recording changes in field potentials in the dentate gyrus following three different high‐frequency stimulation paradigms in the same groups of animals revealed differences in neural plasticity: both strains were able to support long‐term potentiation (LTP) at perforant path synapses, but brief high‐frequency stimulation induced larger and longer potentiation of the population spike in C57BL/6 than in DBA/2 mice. This greater propensity for population‐spike potentiation in the strain that performed better in a hippocampal‐dependent task is in accord with the different neurochemical profiles of C57BL/6 and DBA/2 mice. Hippocampus 2001;11:391–396. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.