Heterosynaptic LTD in the dentate gyrus of anesthetized rat requires homosynaptic activity

Heterosynaptic long-term depression (LTD) is conventionally defined as occurring at synapses that are inactive during a time when neighboring synapses are activated by high-frequency stimulation. A new model that combines computational properties of both the Bienenstock, Cooper and Munro model and spike timing-dependent plasticity, however, suggests that such LTD actually may require presynaptic activity in the depressed pathway. We tested experimentally whether presynaptic activity is in fact necessary for previously described heterosynaptic LTD in lateral perforant path synapses in the dentate gyrus of urethane-anesthetized rats. As predicted by the model, procaine infusion into the lateral path fibers, sufficient to transiently block neural activity in this pathway, prevented the induction of LTD in the lateral path following medial path high-frequency stimulation. These data indicate that the previously described heterosynaptic LTD in the dentate gyrus in vivo is actually a form of homosynaptic LTD, requiring presynaptic activity in the depressed pathway.