Brain-derived neurotrophic factor blocks long-term depression in solitary neurones cultured from rat visual cortex

1. To address questions of whether long-term depression (LTD) in the visual cortex is expressed in pre- or postsynaptic sites, whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) exerts its LTD-blocking action without involvement of GABAergic inhibition, and whether the action of BDNF is pre- or postsynaptic, we observed excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) from solitary neurones cultured on glial microislands. In this preparation GABAergic inhibition is not involved and a group of synapses (autapses) which generate evoked EPSCs is thought to be the same as those generating spontaneous EPSCs. 2. A short depolarising voltage step to the soma generated Na+ spikes which were followed by autaptic EPSCs. When this somatic activation was paired with prolonged depolarisation for 100 ms to -30 mV and repeated at 1 Hz for 5 min, LTD was induced in all of the nine cells tested. Then, the frequency of spontaneous EPSCs decreased, but the amplitude did not change, suggesting that the site of LTD expression is presynaptic. 3. Application of BDNF at 50 ng ml-1 blocked the depression of evoked EPSCs and the decrease in the frequency of spontaneous EPSCs. An inhibitor for receptor tyrosine kinases, K252a, antagonised the action of BDNF, suggesting an involvement of BDNF receptors, TrkB. 4. These results suggest that BDNF prevents low-frequency inputs from inducing LTD of excitatory synaptic transmission through presynaptic mechanisms in the developing visual cortex.