Spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) is a cellular model of Hebbian synaptic plasticity which is believed to underlie memory formation. In an attempt to establish a STDP paradigm in CA1 of acute hippocampal slices from juvenile rats (P15-20), we found that changes in excitability resulting from different slice preparation protocols correlate with the success of STDP induction. Slice prepara...

Synaptic strength depresses for low and potentiates for high activation of the postsynaptic neuron. This feature is a key property of the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) synaptic learning rule, which has been shown to maximize the selectivity of the postsynaptic neuron, and thereby offers a possible explanation for experience-dependent cortical plasticity such as orientation selectivity. However...

The balance between excitatory and inhibitory inputs is a key feature of cortical dynamics. Such a balance is arguably preserved in dendritic branches, yet its underlying mechanism and functional roles remain unknown. In this study, we developed computational models of heterosynaptic spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) to show that the excitatory/inhibitory balance in dendritic branches is...

Layer 2/3 (L2/3) pyramidal cells receive excitatory afferent input both from neighbouring pyramidal cells and from cortical and subcortical regions. The efficacy of these excitatory synaptic inputs is modulated by spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Here we report that synaptic connections between L2/3 pyramidal cell pairs are located proximal to the soma, at sites overlapping those of ex...

Synaptic plasticity has historically been investigated most intensely in the hippocampus and therefore it is somewhat surprising that the majority of studies on spike timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) have focused not in the hippocampus but on synapses in the cortex. One of the major reasons for this bias is the relative ease in obtaining paired electrophysiological recordings from synapticall...

We consider and analyze the influence of spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) on homeostatic states in synaptically coupled neuronal oscillators. In contrast to conventional models of STDP in which spike-timing affects weights of synaptic connections, we consider a model of STDP in which the time lags between pre- and/or post-synaptic spikes change internal state of pre- and/or post-synapti...

In this issue of Neuron, D'amour and Froemke (2015) examine how inhibitory spike-time-dependent plasticity (STDP) interacts with co-activated excitatory STDP to regulate excitatory-inhibitory balance in auditory cortex.

Spike timing dependent plasticity (STDP) is a temporally specific extension of Hebbian associative plasticity that has tied together the timing of presynaptic inputs relative to the postsynaptic single spike. However, it is difficult to translate this mechanism to in vivo conditions where there is an abundance of presynaptic activity constantly impinging upon the dendritic tree as well as ongoi...

In pyramidal cells, the induction of spike-dependent plasticity (STDP) follows a simple Hebbian rule in which the order of presynaptic and postsynaptic firing dictates the induction of LTP or LTD. In contrast, cortical fast spiking (FS) interneurons, which control the rate and timing of pyramidal cell firing, reportedly express timing-dependent LTD, but not timing-dependent LTP. Because a misma...

We consider the Watts-Strogatz small-world network (SWN) consisting of subthreshold neurons which exhibit noise-induced spikings. This neuronal network has adaptive dynamic synaptic strengths governed by the spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). In previous works without STDP, stochastic spike synchronization (SSS) between noise-induced spikings of subthreshold neurons was found to occur in...