Recent studies of excitatory transmission in cortical interneurons reveal a surprising diversity of forms of long-term plasticity. LTP and LTD can be elicited at many synapses on interneurons, and pharmacological manipulations implicate NMDA, calcium-permeable AMPA and metabotropic receptors in the induction of plasticity. Distinct patterns are beginning to emerge in identified pathways, as defined by the cells of origin of the presynaptic glutamatergic axons and the postsynaptic interneuron subtypes. We review this literature, and speculate about the possible adaptive significance of long-term activity-dependent changes in transmission for cortical information processing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Synaptic Plasticity & Interneurons'.
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