Structural scaling and threshold modulation of dentritic spines driven by homeostatic plasticity

• Autor(a) principal: Hobbiss, Anna Felicity
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10362/56199
• topic: Biology; Neuroscience; Biology

Neural networks employ homeostatic synaptic plasticity (HSP) to maintain activity within an optimal range, countering the tendencies of unchecked Hebbian LTP or LTD to saturate the network. It is manifested by synaptic scaling of all the inputs on a neuron, either upwards to increase global activity or downwards to decrease it. In this thesis we investigate the structural correlates that accompany the induction of homeostatic plasticity and then determine how this form of synaptic modulation impacts the ability of inputs to undergo Hebbian plasticity. We show that prolonged activity blockade in organotypic hippocampal slices causes structural growth of individual dendritic spines, complementing the physiological increase in synaptic strength(...)