TY - JOUR
T1 - Heterozygous knock-out mice for brain-derived neurotrophic factor show a pathway-specific impairment of long-term potentiation but normal critical period for monocular deprivation
AU - Bartoletti, Alessandro
AU - Cancedda, Laura
AU - Reid, Susan W.
AU - Tessarollo, Lino
AU - Porciatti, Vittorio
AU - Pizzorusso, Tommaso
AU - Maffei, Lamberto
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002/12/1
Y1 - 2002/12/1
N2 - Genetic deletion of a single allele of the BDNF gene affects hippocampal LTP and causes several behavioral phenotypes, including deficits in spatial learning. In the developing visual cortex, overexpression of BDNF accelerates the time course of the critical period for monocular deprivation (MD), and exogenous administration of BDNF alters the outcome of MD. We asked whether reduced levels of BDNF could affect visual cortex plasticity by studying long-term potentiation (LTP) induction and the effects of MD in heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice. We found that theta burst stimulation that induced LTP in the layer IV-III pathway of wild-type (wt) mice caused only a transient potentiation in BDNF+/- mice, and that this potentiation vanished in 25 min. In contrast, LTP elicited by stimulation of the white matter (WM), a form of LTP that can be induced only during the critical period, occurred normally in wt and BDNF+/-mice. The effects of MD during the critical period were similar in wt and BDNF+/- mice, indicating that layer IV-evoked, layer III LTP is not required for ocular dominance plasticity. We then asked whether reduction of cortical BDNF levels could prolong the critical period for MD and for the WM-evoked, layer III LTP induction. We found that in adult BDNF+/- mice, WM-evoked, layer III LTP was not inducible, and that the critical period for MD terminated normally. We conclude that deletion of one copy of the BDNF gene selectively impairs LTP of the layer IV-III pathway but does not alter ocular dominance plasticity.
AB - Genetic deletion of a single allele of the BDNF gene affects hippocampal LTP and causes several behavioral phenotypes, including deficits in spatial learning. In the developing visual cortex, overexpression of BDNF accelerates the time course of the critical period for monocular deprivation (MD), and exogenous administration of BDNF alters the outcome of MD. We asked whether reduced levels of BDNF could affect visual cortex plasticity by studying long-term potentiation (LTP) induction and the effects of MD in heterozygous BDNF knock-out mice. We found that theta burst stimulation that induced LTP in the layer IV-III pathway of wild-type (wt) mice caused only a transient potentiation in BDNF+/- mice, and that this potentiation vanished in 25 min. In contrast, LTP elicited by stimulation of the white matter (WM), a form of LTP that can be induced only during the critical period, occurred normally in wt and BDNF+/-mice. The effects of MD during the critical period were similar in wt and BDNF+/- mice, indicating that layer IV-evoked, layer III LTP is not required for ocular dominance plasticity. We then asked whether reduction of cortical BDNF levels could prolong the critical period for MD and for the WM-evoked, layer III LTP induction. We found that in adult BDNF+/- mice, WM-evoked, layer III LTP was not inducible, and that the critical period for MD terminated normally. We conclude that deletion of one copy of the BDNF gene selectively impairs LTP of the layer IV-III pathway but does not alter ocular dominance plasticity.
KW - LTP
KW - Neurotrophins
KW - Ocular dominance
KW - TrkB
KW - Visual cortex
KW - Visual deprivation
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U2 - 10.1523/jneurosci.22-23-10072.2002
DO - 10.1523/jneurosci.22-23-10072.2002
M3 - Article
C2 - 12451106
AN - SCOPUS:0036895965
VL - 22
SP - 10072
EP - 10077
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 23
ER -