Dendritic Spine Heterogeneity Determines Afferent-Specific Hebbian Plasticity in the Amygdala

Yann Humeau, Cyril Herry, Nicola Kemp, Hamdy Shaban, Elodie Fourcaudot, Stephanie Bissière, Andreas Lüthi
Neuron. 2005-01-01; 45(1): 119-131
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.12.019

PubMed
Read on PubMed



1. Neuron. 2005 Jan 6;45(1):119-31.

Dendritic spine heterogeneity determines afferent-specific Hebbian plasticity in
the amygdala.

Humeau Y(1), Herry C, Kemp N, Shaban H, Fourcaudot E, Bissière S, Lüthi A.

Author information:
(1)Friedrich Miescher Institute, Maulbeerstrasse 66, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland.

Functional compartmentalization of dendrites is thought to underlie
afferent-specific integration of neural activity in laminar brain structures.
Here we show that in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA), an area lacking
apparent laminar organization, thalamic and cortical afferents converge on the
same dendrites, contacting neighboring but morphologically and functionally
distinct spine types. Large spines contacted by thalamic afferents exhibited
larger Ca(2+) transients during action potential backpropagation than did small
spines contacted by cortical afferents. Accordingly, induction of Hebbian
plasticity, dependent on postsynaptic spikes, was restricted to thalamic
afferents. This synapse-specific effect involved activation of R-type
voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels preferentially located at thalamic inputs.
These results indicate that afferent-specific mechanisms of postsynaptic,
associative Hebbian plasticity in LA projection neurons depend on local,
spine-specific morphological and molecular properties, rather than global
differences between dendritic compartments.

DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2004.12.019
PMID: 15629707 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Know more about