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Synaptic plasticity

The advantages of youth

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 10, pages 470–471 (2009)Cite this article

It is possible that altering the strength of the excitatory input to granule cells could significantly alter olfactory processing by modifying the feedforward inhibition that these cells provide to OB output pathways. To investigate whether the properties of the synapses formed on newborn cells might enhance this plasticity, the authors labelled newly generated granule cells with a green fluorescent protein-expressing lentivirus and recorded their responses to excitatory input at different stages of maturity (2, 8 and 12 weeks after lentiviral injection). Synaptic transmission at three distinct glutamatergic inputs (one distal and two proximal) was separately examined.

Only delivering 'theta-burst' trains of stimulation to a specific set of proximal excitatory synapses in the granule cell layer generated long-term potentiation (LTP) — a form of synaptic plasticity thought to be important for learning and memory — in the postsynaptic granule cells receiving this input. The ability of these synapses to undergo LTP was reduced as the neurons matured, and was absent in mature granule cells.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Nissant,, A. et al. Adult neurogenesis promotes synaptic plasticity in the olfactory bulb. Nature Neurosci. 3 May 2009 (10.1038/nn.2298)

FURTHER READING

  1. Lledo, P.-M. et al. Adult neurogenesis and functional plasticity in neuronal circuits. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 7, 179–193 (2006)

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Authors
  1. Katherine Whalley
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Whalley, K. The advantages of youth. Nat Rev Neurosci 10, 470–471 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2664

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