Persistence of coordinated long-term potentiation and dendritic spine enlargement at mature hippocampal CA1 synapses requires N-cadherin

Ozlem Bozdagi, Xiao Bin Wang, Jessica S. Nikitczuk, Tonya R. Anderson, Erik B. Bloss, Glenn L. Radice, Qiang Zhou, Deanna L. Benson, George W. Huntley

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

102 Scopus citations

Abstract

Persistent changes in spine shape are coupled to long-lasting synaptic plasticity in hippocampus. The molecules that coordinate such persistent structural and functional plasticity are unknown. Here, we generated mice in which the cell adhesion molecule N-cadherin was conditionally ablated from postnatal, excitatory synapses in hippocampus. We applied to adult mice of either sex a combination of whole-cell recording, two-photon microscopy, and spine morphometric analysis to show that postnatal ablation of N-cadherin has profound effects on the stability of coordinated spine enlargement and long-term potentiation (LTP) at mature CA1 synapses, with no effects on baseline spine density or morphology, baseline properties of synaptic neurotransmission, or long-term depression. Thus, N-cadherin couples persistent spine structural modifications with long-lasting synaptic functional modifications associated selectively with LTP, revealing unexpectedly distinct roles at mature synapses in comparison with earlier, broader functions in synapse and spine development.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)9984-9989
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Neuroscience
Volume30
Issue number30
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 28 2010
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Neuroscience

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