Coincident pre- and postsynaptic activity modifies GABAergic synapses by postsynaptic changes in Cl- transporter activity
Melanie A Woodin1, Karunesh Ganguly, Mu-ming Poo
1Division of Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
Coincident pre- and postsynaptic activation is known to induce long-term modification of glutamatergic synapses. We report here that, in both hippocampal cultures and acute hippocampal slices, repetitive postsynaptic spiking within 20 ms before and after the activation of GABAergic synapses also led to a persistent change in synaptic strength. This synaptic modification required Ca2+ influx through postsynaptic L-type Ca2+ channels and was due to a local decrease in K+-Cl- cotransport activity, effectively reducing the strength of inhibition. Thus, GABAergic synapses can detect and be modified by coincident pre- and postsynaptic spiking, allowing the level of inhibition to be modulated in accordance to the temporal pattern of postsynaptic excitation.
Related Concept Videos
Excitatory and Inhibitory Effects of Neurotransmitters
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...
Chemical Synapses
Because chemical synapses depend on the release of neurotransmitter molecules from synaptic vesicles to pass on their signal, there is an approximately one millisecond delay between when the axon potential reaches the presynaptic terminal and when the neurotransmitter leads to opening of postsynaptic ion channels. Additionally, this signaling is...
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Integration of Synaptic Events
Postsynaptic Potential (PSP)
There are two types of receptors: ionotropic and metabotropic.
The ionotropic receptor is the membrane protein that has an...


