J Physiol Wellcome Trust-funded researchers
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

J Physiol Volume 585, Number 3, 853-865, December 15, 2007 DOI: 10.1113/jphysiol.2007.143925
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
585/3/853    most recent
jphysiol.2007.143925v1
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gundlfinger, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kempter, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gundlfinger, A.
Right arrow Articles by Kempter, R.
Related Collections
Right arrow Neuroscience

NEUROSCIENCE

Differential modulation of short-term synaptic dynamics by long-term potentiation at mouse hippocampal mossy fibre synapses

 Anja Gundlfinger1,2, Christian Leibold1,2,3, Katja Gebert3, Marion Moisel3, Dietmar Schmitz1,2 and Richard Kempter1,2,3

1 Neuroscience Research Center, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
2 Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Berlin, Germany
3 Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Synapses continuously experience short- and long-lasting activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength. Long-term plasticity refers to persistent alterations in synaptic efficacy, whereas short-term plasticity (STP) reflects the instantaneous and reversible modulation of synaptic strength in response to varying presynaptic stimuli. The hippocampal mossy fibre synapse onto CA3 pyramidal cells is known to exhibit both a presynaptic, NMDA receptor-independent form of long-term potentiation (LTP) and a pronounced form of STP. A detailed description of their exact interdependence is, however, lacking. Here, using electrophysiological and computational techniques, we have developed a descriptive model of transmission dynamics to quantify plasticity at the mossy fibre synapse. STP at this synapse is best described by two facilitatory processes acting on time-scales of a few hundred milliseconds and about 10 s. We find that these distinct types of facilitation are differentially influenced by LTP such that the impact of the fast process is weakened as compared to that of the slow process. This attenuation is reflected by a selective decrease of not only the amplitude but also the time constant of the fast facilitation. We henceforth argue that LTP, involving a modulation of parameters determining both amplitude and time course of STP, serves as a mechanism to adapt the mossy fibre synapse to its temporal input.

(Received 27 August 2007; accepted after revision 19 October 2007; first published online 25 October 2007)
Corresponding author R. Kempter: Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. Email: r.kempter{at}biologie.hu-berlin.de

A. Gundlfinger and C. Leibold, and D. Schmitz and R. Kempter contributed equally to this work. This paper has online supplemental material.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Physiol.Home page
J. L. Sherwood, R. Mistry, R. Ackerley, and T. R. O. Melvin
Isolating the kinetics of facilitation in the mossy fibre pathway
J. Physiol., June 1, 2008; 586(11): 2671 - 2672.
[Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2007 The Physiological Society.