Activity-dependent potentiation and depression of visual cortical responses to optic nerve stimulation in kittens

1. To see whether long-lasting changes in synaptic efficacy are induced in the developing visual cortex (VC), field potentials evoked by test stimulation given alternatively to each of the optic nerves (ONs) were recorded from VC of kittens ranging in age from 4 to 8 wk. In some experiments, field potentials were recorded simultaneously from the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in addition to VC. 2. Tetanic stimulation was applied to one of the ONs for 1-60 min at 5 Hz. Homosynaptic potentiation of cortical responses, defined as an increase lasting > 2.5 h in the cortical field potential evoked by test stimulation of the ON that was tetanized, was induced without any changes in LGN responses in 3 of the 12 kittens tested. Heterosynaptic depression, defined as a decrease lasting > 0.5 h in the field potential evoked by stimulation of the ON that was not tetanized, was also induced in two of those three kittens. 3. To elucidate a role of inputs originating from spontaneous activity of retinal ganglion cells in induction of potentiation and depression in the cortex, tetrodotoxin (TTX) was injected into both eyes of 11 kittens. After we confirmed the suppression of retinal activity by TTX, tetanic stimulation was applied to ON. Homosynaptic potentiation of cortical responses was induced in 6 of the 11 kittens, and the ratio of the mean amplitude of posttetanic responses to that of pretetanic responses for the 11 kittens was on average larger than that for the 12 control kittens. Heterosynaptic depression was not observed in any of the 11 kittens. 4. To see a role of postsynaptic activity in induction of potentiation and depression, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was applied continuously to the VC by an infusion pump in 10 kittens. Tetanic stimulation was given to ON while cortical activities were suppressed by GABA. After recovery of cortical activities, homosynaptic depression was found to be induced in 3 of the 10 kittens, but homosynaptic potentiation was not observed at all. The ratio of amplitude of posttetanic to pretetanic responses at the tetanized side for the 10 kittens was on average smaller than that for the 11 TTX-injected kittens. 5. These results can be accounted for by the modified covariance model in which the relation of postsynaptic activity and direction of changes in synaptic efficacy is formulated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)