Skip Navigation


Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on May 17, 2006
Cerebral Cortex 2007 17(4):839-848; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhk038
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/4/839    most recent
bhk038v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (10)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dringenberg, H. C.
Right arrow Articles by Kuo, M.-C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dringenberg, H. C.
Right arrow Articles by Kuo, M.-C.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Heterosynaptic Facilitation of In Vivo Thalamocortical Long-Term Potentiation in the Adult Rat Visual Cortex by Acetylcholine

Hans C. Dringenberg, Bana Hamze, Amanda Wilson, William Speechley and Min-Ching Kuo

Department of Psychology and Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6

Address correspondence to email: dringenb{at}post.queensu.ca.

Acetylcholine (ACh) plays a permissive role in developmental plasticity of fibers from the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) to the primary visual cortex (V1). These fibers remain plastic and express long-term potentiation (LTP) in adult rodents, but it is not known if ACh modulates this form of plasticity in the mature V1. We show that, in anesthetized rats, theta burst stimulation (TBS) of the LGN using 5 or 40 theta cycles produced moderate (~20%) and stronger (~40%) potentiation, respectively, of field postsynaptic potentials recorded in the ipsilateral V1. Basal forebrain stimulation (100 Hz) 5 min after TBS enhanced LTP induced by both weak (5 theta cycles) and strong (40 theta cycles) induction protocols. Both effects were reduced by systemic administration of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine. Basal forebrain stimulation did not enhance LTP when applied 30 min after or 5 min prior to TBS, suggesting that ACh affects early LTP induction mechanisms. Application of the cholinergic agonist carbachol in V1 by means of reverse microdialysis mimicked the effect of basal forebrain stimulation. We conclude that heterosynaptic facilitation of V1 plasticity by ACh extends beyond early postnatal maturation periods and acts to convert weak potentiation into pronounced, long-lasting increases in synaptic strength.

Key Words: basal forebrain • EEG/ECoG • LTP • neocortex • plasticity • thalamus • vision


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
P. McCoy, T. T. Norton, and L. L. McMahon
Layer 2/3 Synapses in Monocular and Binocular Regions of Tree Shrew Visual Cortex Express mAChR-Dependent Long-Term Depression and Long-Term Potentiation
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2008; 100(1): 336 - 345.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.