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Synaptic plasticity rules with physiological calcium levels.

Yanis Inglebert1, Johnatan Aljadeff2,3,4, Nicolas Brunel5,3,6,7

  • 1Unité de Neurobiologie des canaux Ionique et de la Synapse, UMR1072, INSERM, Aix-Marseille Université, 13015 Marseille, France.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|December 17, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) rules, crucial for memory, differ in physiological calcium levels. High-frequency firing or bursts are needed to restore STDP in vivo.

Keywords:
STDPcomputational modelhippocampusplasticity

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Synaptic Plasticity
  • Calcium Signaling

Background:

  • Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) is a key mechanism for memory formation.
  • In vitro STDP studies often use non-physiological calcium concentrations, questioning their in vivo relevance.
  • Calcium levels critically influence STDP induction and expression.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of extracellular calcium concentration on STDP at CA3-CA1 synapses.
  • To determine if canonical STDP rules apply under physiological calcium conditions.
  • To explore how altered calcium affects synaptic plasticity and memory formation mechanisms.

Main Methods:

  • Patch-clamp recordings in hippocampal slices.
  • Calcium imaging (Ca2+) to monitor intracellular calcium dynamics.
  • Computational modeling to simulate synaptic plasticity under varying calcium levels.
  • Application of controlled electrical stimulation protocols.

Main Results:

  • Single pre- and postsynaptic action potential pairs failed to induce STDP in physiological calcium (1.3-1.5 mM).
  • Synaptic depression, not potentiation, was observed at 1.8 mM extracellular calcium.
  • STDP was restored only with high-frequency neuronal firing or postsynaptic bursting.

Conclusions:

  • The standard STDP rule is not valid under physiological extracellular calcium concentrations.
  • Synaptic plasticity is profoundly modulated by calcium levels in vivo.
  • Specific patterns of neural activity, like bursts or high firing rates, are necessary to observe classical STDP in physiological conditions.