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Involvement of T‐type Ca 2+ channels in the potentiation of synaptic and visual responses during the critical period in rat visual cortex
Author(s) -
Yoshimura Yumiko,
Inaba Mie,
Yamada Kazumasa,
Kurotani Tohru,
Begum Tahamina,
Reza Faruque,
Maruyama Takuro,
Komatsu Yukio
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2008.06384.x
Subject(s) - ocular dominance , monocular deprivation , long term potentiation , visual cortex , neuroscience , mibefradil , synaptic plasticity , excitatory postsynaptic potential , stimulation , ltp induction , psychology , voltage dependent calcium channel , chemistry , medicine , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , calcium , receptor
Neocortical neuronal circuits are refined by experience during the critical period of early postnatal life. The shift of ocular dominance in the visual cortex following monocular deprivation has been intensively studied to unravel the mechanisms underlying the experience‐dependent modification. Synaptic plasticity is considered to be involved in this process. We previously showed in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of rat visual cortex that low‐frequency stimulation‐induced long‐term potentiation (LTP) at excitatory synapses, which requires the activation of Ni 2+ ‐sensitive (R‐type or T‐type) voltage‐gated Ca 2+ channels (VGCCs) for induction, shared a similar age and experience dependence with ocular dominance plasticity. In this study, we examined whether this LTP is involved in ocular dominance plasticity. In visual cortical slices, LTP was blocked by mibefradil, kurtoxin and R ‐(−)‐efonidipine, T‐type VGCC blockers, but not by SNX‐482, an R‐type VGCC blocker, indicating that LTP induction requires T‐type VGCC activation. Mibefradil did not affect synaptic transmission even at a dose about 30 times higher than that required for LTP blockade. Therefore, this drug was used to test the effect of T‐type VGCC blockade on ocular dominance shift produced by 6 days of monocular deprivation during the critical period using visual evoked potentials (VEPs). Although this monocular deprivation commonly produced both depression of deprived eye responses and potentiation of nondeprived eye responses, only the former change occurred when mibefradil was infused into the visual cortex during monocular deprivation. Mibefradil infusion produced no acute effects on VEPs. These results suggest that T‐type VGCC‐dependent LTP contributes to the experience‐dependent enhancement of visual responses.