Bidirectional, activity-dependent regulation of glutamate receptors in the adult hippocampus in vivo

Experience-dependent regulation of synaptic strength has been suggested as a physiological mechanism by which memory storage occurs in the brain. Although modifications in postsynaptic glutamate receptor levels have long been hypothesized to be a molecular basis for long-lasting regulation of synapt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Mass.), 2000-11, Vol.28 (2), p.527-536
Main Authors: Heynen, A J, Quinlan, E M, Bae, D C, Bear, M F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Electric Stimulation
Electrodes, Implanted
Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists - pharmacology
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials - drug effects
Hippocampus - metabolism
Long-Term Potentiation - physiology
Male
Memory - physiology
Neural Inhibition - physiology
Neuronal Plasticity - physiology
Protein Transport - physiology
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
Receptors, AMPA - metabolism
Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate - metabolism
Synapses - drug effects
Synapses - metabolism
Synaptic Transmission - drug effects
Synaptic Transmission - physiology
Synaptosomes - metabolism
Time
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Summary:Experience-dependent regulation of synaptic strength has been suggested as a physiological mechanism by which memory storage occurs in the brain. Although modifications in postsynaptic glutamate receptor levels have long been hypothesized to be a molecular basis for long-lasting regulation of synaptic strength, direct evidence obtained in the intact brain has been lacking. Here we show that in the adult brain in vivo, synaptic glutamate receptor trafficking is bidirectionally, and reversibly, modified by NMDA receptor-dependent synaptic plasticity and that changes in glutamate receptor protein levels accurately predict changes in synaptic strength. These findings support the idea that memories can be encoded by the precise experience-dependent assignment of glutamate receptors to synapses in the brain.
ISSN:0896-6273
DOI:10.1016/S0896-6273(00)00130-6