Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity
Long-term synaptic plasticity requires postsynaptic influx of Ca²⁺ and is accompanied by changes in dendritic spine size. Unless Ca²⁺ influx mechanisms and spine volume scale proportionally, changes in spine size will modify spine Ca²⁺ concentrations during subsequent synaptic activation. We show th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
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Society for Neuroscience
2011
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49642/ |
| _version_ | 1848798044706832384 |
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| author | O'Donnell, Cian Nolan, Matthew F. van Rossum, Mark C.W. |
| author_facet | O'Donnell, Cian Nolan, Matthew F. van Rossum, Mark C.W. |
| author_sort | O'Donnell, Cian |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Long-term synaptic plasticity requires postsynaptic influx of Ca²⁺ and is accompanied by changes in dendritic spine size. Unless Ca²⁺ influx mechanisms and spine volume scale proportionally, changes in spine size will modify spine Ca²⁺ concentrations during subsequent synaptic activation. We show that the relationship between Ca²⁺ influx and spine volume is a fundamental determinant of synaptic stability. If Ca²⁺ influx is undercompensated for increases in spine size, then strong synapses are stabilized and synaptic strength distributions have a single peak. In contrast, overcompensation of Ca²⁺ influx leads to binary, persistent synaptic strengths with double-peaked distributions. Biophysical simulations predict that CA1 pyramidal neuron spines are undercompensating. This unifies experimental findings that weak synapses are more plastic than strong synapses, that synaptic strengths are unimodally distributed, and that potentiation saturates for a given stimulus strength. We conclude that structural plasticity provides a simple, local, and general mechanism that allows dendritic spines to foster both rapid memory formation and persistent memory storage. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:13:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-49642 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:13:31Z |
| publishDate | 2011 |
| publisher | Society for Neuroscience |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-496422020-05-04T16:31:42Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49642/ Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity O'Donnell, Cian Nolan, Matthew F. van Rossum, Mark C.W. Long-term synaptic plasticity requires postsynaptic influx of Ca²⁺ and is accompanied by changes in dendritic spine size. Unless Ca²⁺ influx mechanisms and spine volume scale proportionally, changes in spine size will modify spine Ca²⁺ concentrations during subsequent synaptic activation. We show that the relationship between Ca²⁺ influx and spine volume is a fundamental determinant of synaptic stability. If Ca²⁺ influx is undercompensated for increases in spine size, then strong synapses are stabilized and synaptic strength distributions have a single peak. In contrast, overcompensation of Ca²⁺ influx leads to binary, persistent synaptic strengths with double-peaked distributions. Biophysical simulations predict that CA1 pyramidal neuron spines are undercompensating. This unifies experimental findings that weak synapses are more plastic than strong synapses, that synaptic strengths are unimodally distributed, and that potentiation saturates for a given stimulus strength. We conclude that structural plasticity provides a simple, local, and general mechanism that allows dendritic spines to foster both rapid memory formation and persistent memory storage. Society for Neuroscience 2011-11-09 Article PeerReviewed O'Donnell, Cian, Nolan, Matthew F. and van Rossum, Mark C.W. (2011) Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience, 31 (45). pp. 16142-16156. ISSN 1529-2401 http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/45/16142 doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2520-11.2011 doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2520-11.2011 |
| spellingShingle | O'Donnell, Cian Nolan, Matthew F. van Rossum, Mark C.W. Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title | Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title_full | Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title_fullStr | Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title_short | Dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| title_sort | dendritic spine dynamics regulate the long-term stability of synaptic plasticity |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49642/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49642/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49642/ |