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Updated: Mar 28, 2026

3D Modeling of Dendritic Spines with Synaptic Plasticity
Published on: May 18, 2020
Mapping homeostatic synaptic plasticity using cable properties of dendrites
B N Queenan1, K J Lee2, H Tan3
1Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States; Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Abstract:
When chronically silenced, cortical and hippocampal neurons homeostatically upregulate excitatory synaptic function. However, the subcellular position of such changes on the dendritic tree is not clear. We exploited the cable-filtering properties of dendrites to derive a parameter, the dendritic filtering index (DFI), to map the spatial distribution of synaptic currents. Our analysis indicates that young rat cortical neurons globally scale AMPA receptor-mediated currents, while mature hippocampal neurons do not, revealing distinct homeostatic strategies between brain regions and developmental stages. The DFI presents a useful tool for mapping the dendritic origin of synaptic currents and the location of synaptic plasticity changes.
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