Unified pre- and postsynaptic long-term plasticity enables reliable and flexible learning

Costa, Rui Ponte; Froemke, Robert C.; Sj�str�m, P. Jesper; van Rossum, Mark C.W.

Abstract

Although it is well known that long-term synaptic plasticity can be expressed both pre- and postsynaptically, the functional consequences of this arrangement have remained elusive. We show that spike-timing-dependent plasticity with both pre- and postsynaptic expression develops receptive fields with reduced variability and improved discriminability compared to postsynaptic plasticity alone. These long-term modifications in receptive field statistics match recent sensory perception experiments. Moreover, learning with this form of plasticity leaves a hidden postsynaptic memory trace that enables fast relearning of previously stored information, providing a cellular substrate for memory savings. Our results reveal essential roles for presynaptic plasticity that are missed when only postsynaptic expression of long-term plasticity is considered, and suggest an experience-dependent distribution of pre- and postsynaptic strength changes.

Citation

Costa, R. P., Froemke, R. C., Sjöström, P. J., & van Rossum, M. C. (2015). Unified pre- and postsynaptic long-term plasticity enables reliable and flexible learning. eLife, 4, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09457

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 25, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Aug 26, 2015
• Publication Date: Aug 26, 2015
• Deposit Date: Feb 7, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 7, 2018
• Journal: eLife
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-084X
• Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Article Number: e09457
• Pages: 1-16
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.09457
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/758457
• Publisher URL: https://elifesciences.org/articles/09457