Abstract* Introduction: Chronic morphine exposure can cause addiction and affect synaptic plasticity, but the underlying neural mechanisms of this phenomenon remain unknown. Herein we used electrophysiologic approaches in hippocampal CA1 area to examine the effect of chronic morphine administration on short-term plasticity. Methods: Experiments were carried out on hippocampal slices taken f...

Title of Document: MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN ADULT MAMMALIAN SENSORY CORTEX Haiyan He, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed By: Dr. Elizabeth M Quinlan Department of Biology Experience-dependent changes in synaptic composition and function (synaptic plasticity) underlie many brain functions including learning and memory, formation of sensory maps, as well as the capability t...

Sensory experience in early life shapes the mammalian brain. An impairment in the activity-dependent refinement of functional connections within developing visual cortex was identified here in a mouse model. Gene-targeted disruption of one isoform of glutamic acid decarboxylase prevented the competitive loss of responsiveness to an eye briefly deprived of vision, without affecting cooperative m...

Human brain can create new neural pathways and create novel memories. Neuronal connections and cortical maps are continuously remodeled by experience (Johansson, 2000). The brain has the capacity to undergo activity-dependent functional and morphological remodeling via mechanisms of plasticity (Bruel-Jungerman, Davis &Laroche, 2007). There are two major types of brain plasticity: functional pla...

Visual system circuitry, a canonical model system for the study of experience-dependent development, matures before and following the onset of vision. Sensory experience or deprivation during an early critical period results in substantial plasticity and is a crucial factor in establishing the mature circuitry. In adulthood, plasticity has been thought to be reduced or absent. However, recent s...

In standard cage (SC) raised mice, experience-dependent ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in the primary visual cortex (V1) rapidly declines with age: in postnatal day 25-35 (critical period) mice, 4 days of monocular deprivation (MD) are sufficient to induce OD-shifts towards the open eye; thereafter, 7 days of MD are needed. Beyond postnatal day 110, even 14 days of MD failed to induce OD-plas...

During postnatal development, altered sensory experience triggers the rapid reorganization of neuronal responses and connections in sensory neocortex. This experience-dependent plasticity is disrupted by reductions of intracortical inhibition. Little is known about how the responses of inhibitory cells themselves change during plasticity. We investigated the time course of inhibitory cell plast...

PURPOSE This paper reviews 10 principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity and considerations in applying them to the damaged brain. METHOD Neuroscience research using a variety of models of learning, neurological disease, and trauma are reviewed from the perspective of basic neuroscientists but in a manner intended to be useful for the development of more effective clinical rehabilit...

Experience-dependent plasticity is crucial for the precise formation of neuronal connections during development. It is generally thought to depend on Hebbian forms of synaptic plasticity. In addition, neurons possess other, homeostatic means of compensating for changes in sensory input, but their role in cortical plasticity is unclear. We used two-photon calcium imaging to investigate whether h...