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Single‐shock LTD by local dendritic spikes in pyramidal neurons of mouse visual cortex
Author(s) -
Holthoff Knut,
Kovalchuk Yury,
Yuste Rafael,
Konnerth Arthur
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1113/jphysiol.2004.072678
Subject(s) - dendritic spike , neuroscience , dendritic spine , dendritic filopodia , synaptic plasticity , stimulus (psychology) , pyramidal cell , dendrite (mathematics) , long term potentiation , biology , chemistry , excitatory postsynaptic potential , receptor , psychology , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , hippocampus , biochemistry , geometry , mathematics , hippocampal formation , psychotherapist
Mammalian dendrites are active structures, capable of regenerative electrical activity. Dendritic spikes can mediate synaptic plasticity and could enrich the computational properties of neurons. Besides sodium‐based action potentials, which can propagate throughout the dendritic tree, neocortical pyramidal neurons also sustain dendritic spikes that are spatially restricted. The function of these ‘local’ dendritic spikes is unknown. We show that local spikes, which require activation of N ‐methyl‐ d ‐aspartate receptors (NMDARs), induce long‐term synaptic depression (LTD) in layer 5 pyramidal neurons. This depression does not require somatic spiking and is input specific. Moreover, a single synaptic stimulus can evoke a dendritic spike and a brief local dendritic calcium transient, and is sufficient for the full induction of LTD.