Long-term potentiation of prefrontal cortex in NR1 knockout mice

利用前脑特异性NR1基因敲除小鼠,采用离体脑片场电位技术,研究了NR1亚基在前额叶脑区突触可塑性中的作用.刺激强度—反应( input-output curve)和双脉冲抑制反应(paired pulse depression,PPD)的结果表明,与同窝对照组小鼠相比,NR1基因敲除小鼠前额叶脑区的基本突触传递无明显变化.采用高频刺激(100 Hz,1 000 ms×2,间隔30 s)在小鼠的前额叶脑区诱导长时程增强( long-term potentiation,LTP),与对照组小鼠相比,NR1基因敲除小鼠前额叶脑区的LTP明显受损.以上数据提示,NR1亚基在前额叶脑区LTP的诱导中起着重要的作用.     

NR1基因敲除对小鼠前额叶脑区LTP的影响

用前脑特异性NR1基因敲除小鼠,采用离体脑片场电位技术,研究了NR1亚基在前额叶脑区突触可塑性中的作用.刺激强度—反应(input-output curve)和双脉冲抑制反应(paired pulse depression, PPD)的结果表明,与同窝对照组小鼠相比,NR1基因敲除小鼠前额叶脑区的基本突触传递无明显变化.采用高频刺激(100 Hz, 1 000 ms ×2, 间隔30 s)在小鼠的前额叶脑区诱导长时程增强(long-term potentiation, LTP),与对照组小鼠相比,NR1基因敲除小鼠前额叶脑区的LTP明显受损.以上数据提示,NR1亚基在前额叶脑区LTP的诱导中起着重要的作用.     

短时程突触可塑性的简化模型

给出了一类包含抑制和易化的短时程突触可塑性的简化模型.分别讨论了突触前发放为周期和Poisson电位脉冲串时,突触后的神经元的抑制和易化机制,并给出了定性分析和数值结果的比较.进一步发现在相同的突触前发放频率下,随机模型使得突触后神经元发放的易化和抑制的参数范围比周期模型的参数范围大.     

ApoE4对大鼠在体海马L-LTP的影响及其分子机制的分析

探讨载脂蛋白E4(apolipoprotein E,apoE4)的神经毒性作用。将12只健康雄性SD大鼠随机分成对照组和实验组两组(n=6)。采用电生理手段,利用海马给药装置和刺激/记录绑定电极记录大鼠在体海马CA1区场兴奋性突触后电位(fEPSP)和高频刺激(HFSs)诱导的晚期长时程增强(L-LTP),观察急性注射apoE4后对大鼠海马CA1区L-LTP的诱导及维持的影响。并且通过Western Blotting检测cAMP应答元件结合蛋白(CREB)的表达及其磷酸化水平,探讨apoE4影响L-LTP的分子机制。结果表明,HFSs前注射0.2μg apoE4并没有改变突触传递,对双脉冲易化(PPF)没有影响。但显著抑制L-LTP的诱导和维持,降低CREB的磷酸化水平。说明apoE4可以损伤海马L-LTP。这种神经毒性不是突触前神经递质释放所介导,而是通过降低突触后CREB活性实现的。     

PTPα基因敲除对小鼠海马CA1区突触可塑性的影响

通过PTPα基因敲除（knockout）小鼠来研究海马突触可塑性的变化，在海马schaffer collateral—CA1通路中采用场电位记录的方法研究发现，与Wild Type相比较，基因敲除小鼠的Long Term Potentiation（LTP）增强而Long Term Depression（LTD）受到抑制，去增强效应消失。θ频率诱导的LTP增强，但是其基本的突触传递性质并没有发生变化．     

基于STDP的神经元连接电路的仿真和分析

人工神经网络是一种模仿人脑结构及其功能的信息处理系统,人工神经网络的硬件实现能充分发挥神经网络大规模并行处理的特点应用于各种工程中,并促进脑科学基础研究的进一步发展.本文实现了（integrate-and-fire,IF）神经元电路设计;完成了（spike-timing dependent plasticity,STDP）机制的电路设计;构建了基于STDP机制的神经元连接电路;分析了STDP机制对神经元连接电路放电特性的影响.研究结果表明：在基于STDP机制的神经元连接电路中,当突触前神经元和突触后神经元的脉冲尖峰具有时间上的差异时,突触权重会发生变化,且进一步影响突触后神经元的脉冲释放.     

βCaMKII过量表达损害小鼠海马齿状回区长时程抑制

采用海马齿状回（dentate gyrus, DG）区域特异性过量表达βCaMKII的蛋白修饰转基因小鼠,通过离体电生理技术,研究了βCaMKII高表达对该区域突触可塑性的影响.与对照组相比,转基因小鼠海马齿状回双脉冲抑制反应（paired-pulse depression, PPD）和颗粒细胞的电压—电流曲线（voltage-current curve）没有发生变化,而该区域的长时程抑制（long-term depression, LTD）明显被减弱.实验结果提示,βCaMKII的过量表达不影响小鼠海马齿状回区的突触前递质释放能力和颗粒细胞的被动属性,但损害其长时程抑制.这为进一步研究βCaMKII在学习记忆和突触可塑性中的作用提供了电生理学依据.     

基于FPGA并行加速的脉冲神经网络在线学习硬件结构的设计与实现

当前，基于数字电路的脉冲神经网络硬件设计，在学习功能方面的突触并行性不高，导致硬件整体延时较大，在一定程度上限制了脉冲神经网络模型在线学习的速度。针对上述问题，文中提出了一种基于FPGA并行加速的高效脉冲神经网络在线学习硬件结构，通过神经元和突触的双并行设计对模型的训练与推理过程进行加速。首先，设计具有并行脉冲传递功能和并行脉冲时间依赖可塑性学习功能的突触结构；然后，搭建输入编码层和赢家通吃结构的学习层，并优化赢家通吃网络的侧向抑制的实现，形成规模为784～400的脉冲神经网络模型。实验结果表明：在MNIST数据集上，使用该硬件结构的脉冲神经网络模型训练一幅图像需要的时间为1.61 ms、能耗约为3.18 mJ，推理一幅图像需要的时间为1.19 ms、能耗约为2.37 mJ，识别MNIST测试集样本的准确率可达87.51%；在文中设计的硬件框架下，突触并行结构能使训练速度提升38%以上，硬件能耗降低约24.1%，有助于促进边缘智能计算设备及技术的发展。     

GABA能联系对大鼠初级视皮层Ⅱ/Ⅲ层神经元突触可塑性的影响

采用膜片钳全细胞记录的方法研究了Sprague-Dawley(SD)大鼠初级视皮层Ⅱ/Ⅲ层内部侧向突触联系可塑性的动态发育变化及抑制性的GABA能神经联系在其中的作用,并通过记录抑制性突触后微电流(miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents,mIPSCs),探讨了抑制性GABA能突触及GABA受体在此过程中的变化.结果发现:SD大鼠在睁眼前后突触可塑性发生了很大的变化,睁眼前Ⅱ/Ⅲ层内部侧向刺激可以诱发出长时程增强(long-term potentiation,LTP),而睁眼后LTP现象消失,该种突触可塑性的变化与抑制性GABA能突触数量的增多和突触后GABA受体数量的变化有关.     

猪胰铁蛋白释放铁和磷酸盐的动力学特性

猪胰铁蛋白（pig pancreas ferritin，PPF）铁核由179 phosphate／PPF和1698 Fe^3＋／PPF组成，平均磷铁比值为1：9．5．PFF铁核表层由较高的磷铁比组成．选用电子光谱技术研究PPF释放铁和磷酸盐全过程，发现PPF以两种不同速率途径释放铁与磷酸盐．在弱酸条件下，PPF释放铁的速率明显高于在弱碱条件下的速率，证实PPF蛋白壳的柔性调节能力强弱是控制释放铁和磷酸盐速率的重要因素之一．     

Locally dynamic synaptic learning rules in pyramidal neuron dendrites

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission underlies aspects of learning and memory. LTP is input-specific at the level of individual synapses, but neural network models predict interactions between plasticity at nearby synapses. Here we show in mouse hippocampal pyramidal cells that LTP at individual synapses reduces the threshold for potentiation at neighbouring synapses. After input-specific LTP induction by two-photon glutamate uncaging or by synaptic stimulation, subthreshold stimuli, which by themselves were too weak to trigger LTP, caused robust LTP and spine enlargement at neighbouring spines. Furthermore, LTP induction broadened the presynaptic-postsynaptic spike interval for spike-timing-dependent LTP within a dendritic neighbourhood. The reduction in the threshold for LTP induction lasted approximately 10 min and spread over approximately 10 microm of dendrite. These local interactions between neighbouring synapses support clustered plasticity models of memory storage and could allow for the binding of behaviourally linked information on the same dendritic branch.     

RIM1alpha is required for presynaptic long-term potentiation.

Two main forms of long-term potentiation (LTP)-a prominent model for the cellular mechanism of learning and memory-have been distinguished in the mammalian brain. One requires activation of postsynaptic NMDA (N-methyl d-aspartate) receptors, whereas the other, called mossy fibre LTP, has a principal presynaptic component. Mossy fibre LTP is expressed in hippocampal mossy fibre synapses, cerebellar parallel fibre synapses and corticothalamic synapses, where it apparently operates by a mechanism that requires activation of protein kinase A. Thus, presynaptic substrates of protein kinase A are probably essential in mediating this form of long-term synaptic plasticity. Studies of knockout mice have shown that the synaptic vesicle protein Rab3A is required for mossy fibre LTP, but the protein kinase A substrates rabphilin, synapsin I and synapsin II are dispensable. Here we report that mossy fibre LTP in the hippocampus and the cerebellum is abolished in mice lacking RIM1alpha, an active zone protein that binds to Rab3A and that is also a protein kinase A substrate. Our results indicate that the long-term increase in neurotransmitter release during mossy fibre LTP may be mediated by a unitary mechanism that involves the GTP-dependent interaction of Rab3A with RIM1alpha at the interface of synaptic vesicles and the active zone.     

Asymmetric relationships between homosynaptic long-term potentiation and heterosynaptic long-term depression

All synaptically-based neuropsychological theories of learning postulate that there are changes resulting from neural activity which are long-lasting and confined to specific sets of synapses. In the past decade a form of synaptic strengthening known as long-term potentiation (LTP) has been found which results from high-frequency neural activity and is of sufficient duration to model as a learning mechanism. Some early tests of the synaptic specificity of LTP in area CA1 of the hippocampus indicated that although LTP was specific to the tetanized pathway, in a converging untetanized pathway it was associated with depression of synaptic transmission lasting for at least 30 min. However, others have found that this heterosynaptic depression more usually decays within 5-15 min post-tetanus despite the maintenance of LTP in the tetanized pathway. Similarly, in the dentate gyrus (DG), LTP of either the lateral (LPP) or medial (MPP) components of the perforant path afferents has been associated with only short-lasting reciprocal heterosynaptic depression. Here, using more detailed measurement of stimulus intensity curves, we report that tetanization of either MPP or LPP reliably depresses synaptic transmission in the other pathway for at least 3 h. This heterosynaptic depression, considerably smaller than the usual magnitude of LTP, was obtained regardless of whether LTP had been produced in the tetanized homosynaptic pathway. Heterosynaptic long-term depression was not observed if the test pathway had been previously tetanized.     

LTP promotes formation of multiple spine synapses between a single axon terminal and a dendrite

Structural remodelling of synapses and formation of new synaptic contacts has been postulated as a possible mechanism underlying the late phase of long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of plasticity which is involved in learning and memory. Here we use electron microscopy to analyse the morphology of synapses activated by high-frequency stimulation and identified by accumulated calcium in dendritic spines. LTP induction resulted in a sequence of morphological changes consisting of a transient remodelling of the postsynaptic membrane followed by a marked increase in the proportion of axon terminals contacting two or more dendritic spines. Three-dimensional reconstruction revealed that these spines arose from the same dendrite. As pharmacological blockade of LTP prevented these morphological changes, we conclude that LTP is associated with the formation of new, mature and probably functional synapses contacting the same presynaptic terminal and thereby duplicating activated synapses.     

Opioids block long-term potentiation of inhibitory synapses

Excitatory brain synapses are strengthened or weakened in response to specific patterns of synaptic activation, and these changes in synaptic strength are thought to underlie persistent pathologies such as drug addiction, as well as learning. In contrast, there are few examples of synaptic plasticity of inhibitory GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid)-releasing synapses. Here we report long-term potentiation of GABA(A)-mediated synaptic transmission (LTP(GABA)) onto dopamine neurons of the rat brain ventral tegmental area, a region required for the development of drug addiction. This novel form of LTP is heterosynaptic, requiring postsynaptic NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) receptor activation at glutamate synapses, but resulting from increased GABA release at neighbouring inhibitory nerve terminals. NMDA receptor activation produces nitric oxide, a retrograde signal released from the postsynaptic dopamine neuron. Nitric oxide initiates LTP(GABA) by activating guanylate cyclase in GABA-releasing nerve terminals. Exposure to morphine both in vitro and in vivo prevents LTP(GABA). Whereas brief treatment with morphine in vitro blocks LTP(GABA) by inhibiting presynaptic glutamate release, in vivo exposure to morphine persistently interrupts signalling from nitric oxide to guanylate cyclase. These neuroadaptations to opioid drugs might contribute to early stages of addiction, and may potentially be exploited therapeutically using drugs targeting GABA(A) receptors.     

Regulation of distinct AMPA receptor phosphorylation sites during bidirectional synaptic plasticity

Bidirectional changes in the efficacy of neuronal synaptic transmission, such as hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), are thought to be mechanisms for information storage in the brain. LTP and LTD may be mediated by the modulation of AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazloe proprionic acid) receptor phosphorylation. Here we show that LTP and LTD reversibly modify the phosphorylation of the AMPA receptor GluR1 subunit. However, contrary to the hypothesis that LTP and LTD are the functional inverse of each other, we find that they are associated with phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, respectively, of distinct GluR1 phosphorylation sites. Moreover, the site modulated depends on the stimulation history of the synapse. LTD induction in naive synapses dephosphorylates the major cyclic-AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) site, whereas in potentiated synapses the major calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) site is dephosphorylated. Conversely, LTP induction in naive synapses and depressed synapses increases phosphorylation of the CaMKII site and the PKA site, respectively. LTP is differentially sensitive to CaMKII and PKA inhibitors depending on the history of the synapse. These results indicate that AMPA receptor phosphorylation is critical for synaptic plasticity, and that identical stimulation conditions recruit different signal-transduction pathways depending on synaptic history.     

Kainate receptors are involved in synaptic plasticity

The ability of synapses to modify their synaptic strength in response to activity is a fundamental property of the nervous system and may be an essential component of learning and memory. There are three classes of ionotropic glutamate receptor, namely NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate), AMPA (alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-4-propionic acid) and kainate receptors; critical roles in synaptic plasticity have been identified for two of these. Thus, at many synapses in the brain, transient activation of NMDA receptors leads to a persistent modification in the strength of synaptic transmission mediated by AMPA receptors. Here, to determine whether kainate receptors are involved in synaptic plasticity, we have used a new antagonist, LY382884 ((3S, 4aR, 6S, 8aR)-6-((4-carboxyphenyl)methyl-1,2,3,4,4a,5,6,7,8,8a-decahydro isoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid), which antagonizes kainate receptors at concentrations that do not affect AMPA or NMDA receptors. We find that LY382884 is a selective antagonist at neuronal kainate receptors containing the GluR5 subunit. It has no effect on long-term potentiation (LTP) that is dependent on NMDA receptors but prevents the induction of mossy fibre LTP, which is independent of NMDA receptors. Thus, kainate receptors can act as the induction trigger for long-term changes in synaptic transmission.     

Temporally distinct pre- and post-synaptic mechanisms maintain long-term potentiation

Long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus is widely studied as the mechanisms involved in its induction and maintenance are believed to underlie fundamental properties of learning and memory in vertebrates. Most synapses that exhibit LTP use an excitatory amino-acid neurotransmitter that acts on two types of receptor, the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and quisqualate receptors. The quisqualate receptor mediates the fast synaptic response evoked by low-frequency stimulation, whereas the NMDA receptor system is activated transiently by tetanic stimulation, leading to the induction of LTP. The events responsible for maintaining LTP once it is established are not known. We now demonstrate that the sensitivity of CA1 neurons in hippocampal slices to ionophoretically-applied quisqualate receptor ligands slowly increases following the induction of LTP. This provides direct evidence for a functional post-synaptic change and suggests that pre-synaptic mechanisms also contribute, but in a temporally distinct manner, to the maintenance of LTP.     

Long-term potentiation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in the hippocampus.

Neurotransmission at most excitatory synapses in the brain operates through two types of glutamate receptor termed alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors; these mediate the fast and slow components of excitatory postsynaptic potentials respectively. Activation of NMDA receptors can also lead to a long-lasting modification in synaptic efficiency at glutamatergic synapses; this is exemplified in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, where NMDA receptors mediate the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). It is believed that in this region LTP is maintained by a specific increase in the AMPA receptor-mediated component of synaptic transmission. We now report, however, that a pharmacologically isolated NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic response can undergo robust, synapse-specific LTP. This finding has implications for neuropathologies such as epilepsy and neurodegeneration, in which excessive NMDA receptor activation has been implicated. It adds fundamentally to theories of synaptic plasticity because NMDA receptor activation may, in addition to causing increased synaptic efficiency, directly alter the plasticity of synapses.     

远志皂苷对小鼠行为习得及海马CA3区突触形态的影响

为了探讨远志皂苷对小鼠学习能力及海马CA3区突触形态的影响,把30只小鼠随机分为2组:药物组灌胃生药量为4.50 g/kg的远志皂苷溶液,对照组灌胃相等剂量的生理盐水,14 d后进行行为学训练,期间继续给药10 d.训练结束后,各取7只小鼠检测海马CA3区突触密度、活性带长度、突触间隙宽度、PSD厚度及穿孔突触的比例....