Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 106, Issue 45, Pages 18890-18896Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910659106
Keywords
neural development; retrograde signaling; synaptic plasticity; retinal ganglion cell
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [EY01979, NS36999]
- National Basic Research of China [2006CB806605, 2006CB943802]
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Neural activity can induce persistent strengthening or weakening of synapses, known as long-term potentiation (LTP) or long-term depression (LTD), respectively. As potential cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory, LTP and LTD are generally regarded as synapse-specific imprints'' of activity, although there is evidence in vitro that LTP/LTD may spread to adjacent synapses. Here, we report that LTP and LTD induced in vivo at retinotectal synapses of Xenopus tadpoles undergo rapid long-range retrograde spread from the optic tectum to the retina, resulting in potentiation and depression of bipolar cell synapses on the dendrites of retinal ganglion cells, respectively. The retrograde spread of LTP and LTD required retrograde signaling initiated by brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nitric oxide in the tectum, respectively. Such bidirectional adjustment of the strength of input synapses in accordance to that of output synapses may serve to coordinate developmental refinement and learning functions of neural circuits.
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