Long-term potentiation articles within Nature Communications

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• Article
  16 February 2024 | Open Access

  Serotonin modulates excitatory synapse maturation in the developing prefrontal cortex

  The role of serotonin in prefrontal cortex development remains unexplored. Here, authors show that serotonin regulates maturation and stabilization of prefrontal excitatory synapses.

  • Roberto Ogelman
  • , Luis E. Gomez Wulschner
  •  & Won Chan Oh

• Article
  04 January 2024 | Open Access

  VAP spatially stabilizes dendritic mitochondria to locally support synaptic plasticity

  Brain mitochondria serve as local energy supplies for synapses, and the mechanisms that stabilize mitochondria near dendritic spines are not fully understood. Here, the authors identify the vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein VAP as a mitochondrial stabilizer in spatially supporting synaptic plasticity.

  • Ojasee Bapat
  • , Tejas Purimetla
  •  & Vidhya Rangaraju

• Article
  14 December 2023 | Open Access

  CA3 hippocampal synaptic plasticity supports ripple physiology during memory consolidation

  Memory consolidation requires hippocampal ripples. Here the authors show that AMPA receptor mobilisation at CA3 recurrent synapses is required for ripple-dependent rule consolidation.

  • Hajer El Oussini
  • , Chun-Lei Zhang
  •  & Yann Humeau

• Article
  09 June 2022 | Open Access

  Norepinephrine potentiates and serotonin depresses visual cortical responses by transforming eligibility traces

  Previous work has identified synaptic eligibility traces in slice preparations. Here the authors provide demonstration of eligibility traces in vivo during reinforcement learning.

  • Su Z. Hong
  • , Lukas Mesik
  •  & Alfredo Kirkwood

• Article
  11 March 2022 | Open Access

  Coincidence of cholinergic pauses, dopaminergic activation and depolarisation of spiny projection neurons drives synaptic plasticity in the striatum

  It remains unclear how corticostriatal synapses utilize reward prediction error signaling in order to reinforce reward-related behaviors. Here, the authors show that potentiation of corticostriatal synapses requires phasic dopamine activation, pauses in striatal cholinergic interneuron firing, and depolarization of spiny projection neurons.

  • John N. J. Reynolds
  • , Riccardo Avvisati
  •  & Yan-Feng Zhang

• Article
  07 February 2022 | Open Access

  Presynaptic NMDARs on spinal nociceptor terminals state-dependently modulate synaptic transmission and pain

  Postsynaptic NMDARs at spinal synapses are required for postsynaptic long-term potentiation and chronic pain. Here, the authors show that also presynaptic NMDARs in spinal nociceptor terminals modulate synaptic transmission in a nociceptive tone-dependent manner.

  • Rou-Gang Xie
  • , Wen-Guang Chu
  •  & Ceng Luo

• Article
  02 February 2021 | Open Access

  Photoactivatable CaMKII induces synaptic plasticity in single synapses

  Optogenetic control of molecules is important in cell biology and neuroscience. Here, the authors describe an optogenetic tool to control the Ca^²+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II and use it to control plasticity at the single synapse level.

  • Akihiro C. E. Shibata
  • , Hiromi H. Ueda
  •  & Hideji Murakoshi

• Article
  18 January 2021 | Open Access

  PKA drives an increase in AMPA receptor unitary conductance during LTP in the hippocampus

  Long-term potentiation at hippocampal CA1 synapses can be due to increasing the number and/or single-channel conductance of AMPA receptors. The authors show that PKA and CaMKII are necessary and together sufficient to increase single channel conductance, via insertion of calcium-permeable AMPA receptors.

  • Pojeong Park
  • , John Georgiou
  •  & Graham L. Collingridge

• Article
  29 October 2020 | Open Access

  Acute EPA-induced learning and memory impairment in mice is prevented by DHA

  Acute administration of EPA impairs learning and memory and hippocampal LTP in mice that was mediated through enhancing GABAergic transmission via the 5-HT₆R. DHA can prevent EPA-induced impairments at a ratio of EPA to DHA similar to that in marine fish oil via the 5-HT_2CR.

  • Ji-Hong Liu
  • , Qian Wang
  •  & Tian-Ming Gao

• Article
  07 August 2020 | Open Access

  Differential chloride homeostasis in the spinal dorsal horn locally shapes synaptic metaplasticity and modality-specific sensitization

  Inhibition in spinal nociceptive pathways is weaker and more labile in lamina I —where thermal input is primarily processed— than in lamina II that encodes predominantly high threshold mechanical input. This explains why noxious thermal input makes spinal circuits prone to catastrophic sensitization.

  • Francesco Ferrini
  • , Jimena Perez-Sanchez
  •  & Yves De Koninck

• Article
  24 April 2020 | Open Access

  Stress gates an astrocytic energy reservoir to impair synaptic plasticity

  Enduring changes in synaptic efficacy are highly sensitive to stress. Here, the authors show that astrocytic delivery of metabolites has an important role in the stress-mediated impairment of synaptic plasticity.

  • Ciaran Murphy-Royal
  • , April D. Johnston
  •  & Grant R. Gordon

• Article
  25 June 2019 | Open Access

  Mechanisms of Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent kinase II activation in single dendritic spines

  Activation of Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) in dendritic spines is a key step of long-term potentiation (LTP) induction, yet the exact biochemical steps of CaMKIIα activation in dendritic spines remained elusive. In this study, the authors developed a novel imaging approach to monitor CaM interactions CaMKIIα in cultured hippocampal neurons after uncaging of glutamate. This allowed the authors to model the kinetics of CaMKIIα activation in single dendritic spines.

  • Jui-Yun Chang
  • , Yoshihisa Nakahata
  •  & Ryohei Yasuda

• Article
  30 July 2018 | Open Access

  Overexpression of endophilin A1 exacerbates synaptic alterations in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

  Endophilin A1 protein is known to be elevated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here the authors show that endophilin A1 overexpression exacerbates synaptic deficits in a mouse model of AD.

  • Qing Yu
  • , Yongfu Wang
  •  & Shirley ShiDu Yan

• Article
  26 June 2017 | Open Access

  Dendritic mitoflash as a putative signal for stabilizing long-term synaptic plasticity

  Mitoflashes are dynamic events in mitochondria, associated with depolarization and release of reactive oxygen species, and have been associated with several cellular functions. The authors now show that in neurons, dendritic mitoflashes are involved in structural postsynaptic changes during LTP.

  • Zhong-Xiao Fu
  • , Xiao Tan
  •  & Guo-Qiang Bi

• Article
  12 June 2017 | Open Access

  Autism-like behaviours and enhanced memory formation and synaptic plasticity in Lrfn2/SALM1-deficient mice

  Lrfn2/SALM1 is a synaptic adhesion molecule, and is known to interact with PSD-95. Here the authors show that Lrfn2 regulates excitatory synapse maturation and maintenance, and that Lrfn2 knockout mice exhibit autism-like behaviours as well as enhanced learning and memory.

  • Naoko Morimura
  • , Hiroki Yasuda
  •  & Jun Aruga

• Article
  10 February 2017 | Open Access

  Selective molecular impairment of spontaneous neurotransmission modulates synaptic efficacy

  Emerging evidence suggests that spontaneous neurotransmitter release contributes to the maintenance of synaptic efficacy. Here the authors selectively reduce spontaneous glutamatergic transmission while leaving the stimulus-evoked responses intact and show that this leads to homeostatic scaling at the postsynaptic side in cultured neurons and alters synaptic plasticity in acute brain slices.

  • Devon C. Crawford
  • , Denise M. O. Ramirez
  •  & Ege T. Kavalali

• Article
  25 November 2016 | Open Access

  Transduction of group I mGluR-mediated synaptic plasticity by β-arrestin2 signalling

  mGluRs are known to undergo non-canonical signalling regulation, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, the authors identify a role for β-arrestin2, but not β-arrestin1, in group I mGluR-mediated plasticity at hippocampal synapses.

  • Andrew G. Eng
  • , Daniel A. Kelver
  •  & Geoffrey T. Swanson

• Article
  10 April 2015 | Open Access

  miR-26a and miR-384-5p are required for LTP maintenance and spine enlargement

  Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a form of synaptic plasticity that results in enhanced synaptic strength. Here, the authors demonstrate that miR-26a and miR-384-5p affect the maintenance, but not induction, of LTP as well as spine enlargement by regulating the expression of RSK3.

  • Qin-Hua Gu
  • , Danni Yu
  •  & Zheng Li

• Article | 13 June 2014

  Tonic inhibition in dentate gyrus impairs long-term potentiation and memory in an Alzheimer’s disease model

  Altered GABAergic synaptic transmission is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease pathology. Here, Wu et al. show that GABA content is increased in brain samples from human patients and that in mouse models of the disease, the increase in GABA leads to an increase in tonic inhibition in the dentate gyrus.

  • Zheng Wu
  • , Ziyuan Guo
  •  & Gong Chen

• Article
  04 June 2014 | Open Access

  Synaptic recruitment of gephyrin regulates surface GABA_A receptor dynamics for the expression of inhibitory LTP

  GABA receptors are implicated in neuronal postsynaptic long-term potentiation of inhibition (iLTP). Here, Petrini et al. show that iLTP depends on recruitment of the scaffold protein gephyrin at synapses, which is enhanced by CaMKII-dependent phosphorylation of a specific residue on GABA_Areceptors.

  • Enrica Maria Petrini
  • , Tiziana Ravasenga
  •  & Andrea Barberis

• Article | 23 April 2013

  Identity of endogenous NMDAR glycine site agonist in amygdala is determined by synaptic activity level

  NMDA receptor activation requires the occupation of binding sites by glutamate and a glycine site agonist. Li and colleagues study this in synapses of the lateral nucleus of the amygdala and find that the identity of the NMDAR glycine site agonist depends on the level of synaptic activation.

  • Yan Li
  • , Silvia Sacchi
  •  & Vadim Y. Bolshakov

• Article | 04 December 2012

  Synaptic tagging and capture in the living rat

  Synaptic tagging and capture describes thein vitro protein synthesis-dependent neuronal process where short-lasting forms of response potentiation are stabilised into long-lasting forms. Shires and colleagues find that this phenomenon also occurs in vivoin intact, living animals.

  • K.L. Shires
  • , B.M. Da Silva
  •  & S.J. Martin