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The timing of external input controls the sign of plasticity at local synapses

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Abstract

The method by which local networks in the brain store information from extrinsic afferent inputs is not well understood. We found that the timing of afferent input can bidirectionally control the sign of spike timing–dependent plasticity at local synapses in rat hippocampus. This mechanism provides a means by which temporal information in external input can be encoded in the local matrix of synaptic weights.

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Figure 1: Tempero-ammonic input controls postsynaptic spike timing of CA1 pyramidal neurons during theta oscillation.
Figure 2: Tempero-ammonic input modulates the sign of STDP at hippocampal Schaffer collateral–CA1 synapses during theta oscillation.
Figure 3: Enforcement of potentiation and depression by external input during theta oscillation.

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  • 04 February 2010

    In the PDF version of this article initially published online, there were extra lines in some of the traces shown in Figure 2b,c,g,h. The print and HTML versions of the paper are correct and do not contain these errors. These errors have been corrected in the PDF version of the article.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant number BB/D0157581) and the Kwanjeong Foundation.

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Contributions

J.K. conducted the experiments and analyzed the data. J.K. and O.P. designed the experiments and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ole Paulsen.

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Supplementary Figures 1–6 and Supplementary Methods (PDF 326 kb)

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Kwag, J., Paulsen, O. The timing of external input controls the sign of plasticity at local synapses. Nat Neurosci 12, 1219–1221 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2388

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