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Spike timing–dependent long-term depression requires presynaptic NMDA receptors

Abstract

NMDA receptors are necessary for both synaptic potentiation and depression, but the precise location of these receptors has not been established. By loading MK-801 into pre- or postsynaptic neurons during paired recordings of synaptically connected layer 4 and layer 2/3 neurons in mouse barrel cortex, we found that synaptic potentiation requires postsynaptic, but not presynaptic, NMDA receptors, whereas synaptic depression requires presynaptic, but not postsynaptic, NMDA receptors.

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Figure 1: NMDA receptor dependence of timing-dependent plasticity in barrel cortex.
Figure 2: t-LTP and t-LTD require postsynaptic and presynaptic NMDA receptors, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number G0400571) and by an equipment grant from the Alzheimer's Research Trust. A.R.-M. holds a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship.

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Authors

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A.R.-M. conducted the experiments and analyzed the data. A.R.-M. and O.P. designed the experiments and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Antonio Rodríguez-Moreno or Ole Paulsen.

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Supplementary Figures 1–3 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 194 kb)

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Rodríguez-Moreno, A., Paulsen, O. Spike timing–dependent long-term depression requires presynaptic NMDA receptors. Nat Neurosci 11, 744–745 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2125

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