Long-term plasticity of excitatory inputs to granule cells in the rat olfactory bulb

Using two photon-guided focal stimulation, we found spike timing-dependent plasticity of proximal excitatory inputs to olfactory bulb granule cells that originated, in part, from cortical feedback projections. The protocol that potentiated proximal inputs depressed distal, dendrodendritic inputs to granule cells. Granule cell excitatory postsynaptic potentials and mitral cell inhibition were also potentiated by theta-burst stimulation. Plasticity of cortical feedback inputs to interneurons provides a mechanism for encoding information by modulating bulbar inhibition.