Use-dependent inhibition of dendritic spines

• Published in: Trends in neurosciences (Regular ed.) Vol. 25; no. 11; pp. 541 - 543
• Main Author: Keller, Asaf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2002
• Subjects: Animals; barrel cortex; Dendrites - physiology; electron microscopy; Humans; Neural Inhibition - physiology; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Somatosensory Cortex - physiology; Synapses - physiology; synaptic plasticity; synaptogenesis; barrel cortex; Cell biology; electron microscopy; Neuroscience; synaptic plasticity; synaptogenesis
• ISSN: 0166-2236; 1878-108X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0166-2236(02)02260-9

Dendritic spines are now known to be subject to use-dependent plasticity that affects both their structure and their numbers. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a use-dependent increase in the density of dendritic spines occurs in both excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the mouse barrel cortex. Furthermore, it has been shown that although this increase in the density of spines and excitatory synapses is transient, the increase in spinous inhibitory synapses is long-lasting. These findings lend further support to the hypothesis that synapses in the mature cortex are subject to continual use-dependent plasticity. The remarkable capacity of dendritic spines to alter their shape and the patterns of synapses they form is further elaborated by finding that inhibitory synapses onto spines are subject to long-term use-dependent plasticity