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Published March 17, 1995 | public
Journal Article

Long-lasting neurotrophin-induced enhancement of synaptic transmission in the adult hippocampus

Abstract

The neurotrophins are signaling factors important for the differentiation and survival of distinct neuronal populations during development. To test whether the neurotrophins also function in the mature nervous system, the effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and neurotrophic factor 3 (NT-3) on the strength of synaptic transmission in hippocampal slices were determined. Application of BDNF or NT-3 produced a dramatic and sustained (2 to 3 hours) enhancement of synaptic strength at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses; NGF was without significant effect. The enhancement was blocked by K252a, an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases. BDNF and NT-3 decreased paired-pulse facilitation, which is consistent with a possible presynaptic modification. Long-term potentiation could still be elicited in slices previously potentiated by exposure to the neurotrophic factors, which implies that these two forms of plasticity may use at least partially independent cellular mechanisms.

Additional Information

© 1995 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 27 October 1994; accepted 10 February 1995. We thank D. Anderson, M. Kennedy, G. Laurent, P. Patterson, and members of the Schuman lab for helpful discussions and comments and C. Hung for writing data acquisition and analysis software. We thank Amgen for supplying BDNF and NT-3. E.S. is a John Merck Scholar and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.

Additional details

Created:
August 20, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023