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Endogenous serotonin contributes to a developmental decrease in long-term potentiation in the rat visual cortex.

Y Edagawa1, H Saito, K Abe

  • 1Department of Chemical Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|February 27, 2001
PubMed
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Synaptic plasticity in the rat visual cortex declines with age. Endogenous serotonin (5-HT) suppresses long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in older rats, potentially defining critical periods for visual cortex development.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology
  • Synaptic Plasticity

Background:

  • The primary visual cortex exhibits synaptic plasticity during a critical developmental period.
  • This plasticity, specifically long-term potentiation (LTP), declines significantly with age in rats.
  • Understanding the mechanisms behind this decline is crucial for comprehending visual cortex development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the developmental decrease in long-term potentiation (LTP) induction in the rat visual cortex.
  • To test the hypothesis that endogenous serotonin (5-HT) mediates the age-related decline in visual cortex plasticity.
  • To explore the role of 5-HT in defining the critical period for synaptic plasticity.

Main Methods:

  • Electrophysiological recordings of field potentials in rat visual cortex slices.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Tetanic stimulation was used to induce LTP in slices from rats of different ages (2-3 weeks vs. 5 weeks).
  • Pharmacological manipulation using a 5-HT receptor antagonist (methysergide) and neurochemical lesioning (5,7-dihydroxytryptamine) to assess 5-HT's role.

    • Main Results:

    • LTP was reliably induced in visual cortex slices from young rats (2-3 weeks old) but not in older rats (5 weeks old).
    • Exogenous 5-HT suppressed LTP induction, and endogenous 5-HT levels increased with age.
    • Methysergide treatment and serotonergic neuron lesioning restored LTP induction in 5-week-old rats, indicating 5-HT's inhibitory role.

    Conclusions:

    • Endogenous serotonin (5-HT) actively suppresses the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in the developing rat visual cortex.
    • This 5-HT-mediated suppression is a key factor contributing to the developmental decline in synaptic plasticity.
    • Serotonin likely plays a critical role in regulating the critical period for synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex.