Synaptic metaplasticity and the local charge effect in postsynaptic densities

Trends in Neurosciences
P Tompa, P Friedrich

Abstract

Synaptic plasticity might be one of the elementary processes that underlies higher brain functions, such as learning and memory. Intriguingly, the capacity of a synapse for plastic changes itself displays marked variation or plasticity. This higher-order plasticity, or metaplasticity, appears to depend on the same macromolecules as plasticity, most notably the NMDA receptor and Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II; yet we do not understand metaplasticity in molecular terms. Metaplasticity has a feedback-inhibition character that confers stability to synaptic patterns, whereas in plasticity, the molecular events implicated tend to have an opposite effect. As a resolution to this difference, we suggest that metaplasticity be considered in a biophysical context. It has been shown that autophosphorylation of Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II in postsynaptic densities generates changes in the local electrostatic potential sufficient to affect the direction of synaptic plasticity. We propose that this finding could help explain both the puzzling abundance of Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II in the postsynaptic density and the metaplasticity of synaptic transmission.

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Citations

Jan 9, 1999·Trends in Neurosciences·J J Kim, K S Yoon
Oct 19, 2007·Molecular Biology of the Cell·Rebekah S VestK Ulrich Bayer
Jun 9, 2000·Annual Review of Neuroscience·S J MartinR G Morris
Jun 18, 2010·The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience·Isabelle BuardK Ulrich Bayer
Jun 17, 2005·Cerebral Cortex·Itay ZelcerEdi Barkai

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