Long-term depression at the medial perforant path-granule cell synapse in developing rat dentate gyrus

Long-term depression (LTD) is a decrease in synaptic efficacy that may model the elimination of inappropriate synapses during brain development. LTD might therefore be expected to be prominent in the juvenile hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG), where the majority of neuronogenesis and excitatory synapse production and pruning occur in the first postnatal month. Thus far, however, LTD in immature DG remains unexplored. Low-frequency stimulus induced homosynaptic LTD was studied at the medial perforant path-granule cell synapse in rats 8-30 days of age. LTD was most consistent and was of greatest magnitude in the youngest animals, and was more robust in response to stimulation at 1 Hz than at 3 or 5 Hz. LTD was saturable by repetitive delivery of low-frequency stimulation, and reversible by tetanic stimulation that induced long-term potentiation (LTP). LTD of the field EPSP was not prevented by bath application of the NMDA receptor antagonist AP5, the mGluR antagonist MCPG, or the L-type voltage sensitive calcium channel antagonist nitrendipine. In whole cell recordings LTD induction was blocked by hyperpolarization of the postsynaptic neuron but not by calcium chelation with BAPTA. Calcium chelation blocked LTP and simultaneously unmasked tetanus induced LTD. These data demonstrate that LTD is prominent in immature DG, that LTP and LTD are complementary processes, and that LTD is likely to be induced postsynaptically because it is voltage dependent, although the mechanism of voltage dependence remains to be elucidated.