Short-term Plasticity in Excitatory Synapses of the Rat Medial Preoptic Nucleus.
From: Department of Integrative Medical Biology, Section for Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
Brain research
- Publish Date: Sep 2006
- ISSN: 0006-8993
- Volume: 1110
- Issue: 1
- Pages: 128-35
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Malinina Evgenya, Druzin Michael, Johansson Staffan, et al. Short-term Plasticity in Excitatory Synapses of the Rat Medial Preoptic Nucleus.. Brain Res. Sep 2006;1110:128-35
Abstract
The medial preoptic nucleus (MPN) regulates sexual behavior which is subject to experience-dependent modifications. Such modifications must depend on functional plasticity in the controlling neural circuits. Thus, MPN synapses are likely candidates for the site of alterations. The present work is a first systematic study of functional synaptic plasticity at glutamatergic synapses in the MPN. Short-term activity-dependent plasticity was investigated using a slice preparation from young male rats. The average efficacy of AMPA/kainate-receptor-mediated synaptic transmission was activity-dependent, showing a peak at a steady stimulation rate of 2 Hz. The variation in efficacy was attributed to mainly presynaptic factors since the average response amplitude was roughly paralleled by the response probability. Upon paired-pulse stimulation, paired-pulse facilitation as well as paired-pulse depression was observed. In some cases, paired-pulse facilitation as well as paired-pulse depression was recorded from an individual neuron depending on the interval between the paired stimuli. On average, paired-pulse facilitation was observed at intervals <500 ms, and paired-pulse depression at intervals in the range 1-4 s. The findings thus reveal complex activity-dependent short-term plasticity of the functional synaptic properties in the medial preoptic nucleus.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Animals, Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation, Electric Stimulation, Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials, Neuronal Plasticity, Preoptic Area, Rats, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Synapses, Time Factors
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 16870159
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