Synaptic Plasticity from Visual Cortex to Hippocampus: Systems Integration in Spatial Information Processing

The adult cerebral cortex possesses the remarkable ability to change its neuronal connectivity through experience, a phenomenon termed synaptic plasticity. Synaptic plasticity constitutes a cellular mechanism that is thought to underlie information storage and memory formation in the brain, and represents a use-dependent long-blasting increase or decrease in synaptic strength. Recent findings, that the adult visual cortex undergoes dynamic synaptic plasticity that is driven by active visual experience, suggest that it may be involved in information processing that could contribute to memory formation. The visual cortex provides a crucial sensory input to the hippocampus, and is a key component for the creation of spatial memories. An understanding of how visual cortical neurons respond with synaptic plasticity to visual experience, and whether these responses influence the induction of hippocampal plasticity, is fundamental to our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms and functional consequences of visuospatial information processing. In this review. we summarize recent findings with regard to the expression of dynamic synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex and how this plasticity may influence information processing in the hippocampus. NEUROSCIENTIST 14(6):584-597, 2008. DOI: 10.1177/1073858408315655