Developmental changes in release properties of the CA3-CA1 glutamate synapse in rat hippocampus.

• Developmental changes in release probability (Pr) and paired-pulse plasticity at CA3-CA1 glutamate synapses in hippocampal slices of neonatal rats were examined using field excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) recordings. Paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) at these synapses was, on average, absent in the first postnatal week but emerged and became successively larger during the second postnatal week. This developmental increase in PPF was associated with a reduction in Pr, as indicated by the slower progressive block of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) EPSP by the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801. This developmental reduction in Pr was not homogenous among the synapses. As shown by the MK-801 analysis, the Pr heterogeneity observed among adult CA3-CA1 synapses is present already during the first postnatal week, and the developmental Pr reduction was found to be largely selective for synapses with higher Pr values, leaving Pr of the vast majority of the synapses essentially unaffected. A reduction in Pves, the release probability of the individual vesicle, possibly caused by reduction in Ca2+ influx, seems to explain the reduction in Pr. In vivo injection of tetanus toxin at the end of the first postnatal week did not prevent the increase in PPF, indicating that this developmental change in release is not critically dependent on normal neural activity during the second postnatal week.

Nyckelord

Aging

physiology

Animals

Calcium Channel Blockers

pharmacology

Dizocilpine Maleate

pharmacology

Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials

drug effects

physiology

Glutamic Acid

physiology

Hippocampus

growth & development

physiology

Male

Pyramidal Cells

drug effects

physiology

Rats

Rats

Wistar

Receptors

N-Methyl-D-Aspartate

drug effects

physiology

Synapses

physiology

omega-Conotoxin GVIA

pharmacology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)