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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Assessment of Long-term Depression Induction in Adult Cerebellar Slices
Published on: October 16, 2019
Short-term potentiation at the parallel fiber-Purkinje cell synapse
Jun-Ichi Goto1, Takafumi Inoue, Akinori Kuruma
1Division of Molecular Neurobiology, The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639 Japan.
Abstract:
Changes in synaptic efficacy at the parallel fiber (PF)-Purkinje cell (PC) synapse are postulated to be a cellular basis for motor learning. Although long-term efficacy changes lasting more than an hour at this synapse, i.e., long-term potentiation and depression, have been extensively studied, relatively short lasting synaptic efficacy changes, namely short-term potentiation (STP) lasting for tens of minutes, have not been discussed to date. Here we report that this synapse shows an apparent STP reliably by a periodic burst pattern of homosynaptic stimulation. This STP is presynaptically expressed, since it accompanies with a reduced paired-pulse facilitation and is resistant to postsynaptic Ca(2+) reduction by BAPTA injection or in P/Q-type Ca channel knockout cerebella. This novel type of synaptic plasticity at the PF-PC synapse would be a clue for understanding the presynaptic mechanisms of plasticity at this synapse.
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