1. Neuroscience

Endocannabinoid dynamics gate spike-timing dependent depression and potentiation

  1. Yihui Cui
  2. Ilya Prokin
  3. Hao Xu
  4. Bruno Delord
  5. Stephane Genet
  6. Laurent Venance
  7. Hugues Berry  Is a corresponding author
  1. College de France, France
  2. French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, France
  3. University Pierre et Marie Curie, France
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13185
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  1. Yihui Cui
  2. Ilya Prokin
  3. Hao Xu
  4. Bruno Delord
  5. Stephane Genet
  6. Laurent Venance
  7. Hugues Berry
(2016)
Endocannabinoid dynamics gate spike-timing dependent depression and potentiation
eLife 5:e13185.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13185
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Abstract

Synaptic plasticity is a cardinal cellular mechanism for learning and memory. The endocannabinoid (eCB) system has emerged as a pivotal pathway for synaptic plasticity because of its widely characterized ability to depress synaptic transmission on short- and long-term scales. Recent reports indicate that eCBs also mediate potentiation of the synapse. However it is not known how eCB signaling may support bidirectionality. Here, we combined electrophysiology experiments with mathematical modeling to question the mechanisms of eCB bidirectionality in spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) at corticostriatal synapses. We demonstrate that STDP outcome is controlled by eCB levels and dynamics: prolonged and moderate levels of eCB lead to eCB-mediated long-term depression (eCB-tLTD) while short and large eCB transients produce eCB-mediated long-term potentiation (eCB-tLTP). Moreover, we show that eCB-tLTD requires active calcineurin whereas eCB-tLTP necessitates the activity of presynaptic PKA. Therefore, just like glutamate or GABA, eCB form a bidirectional system to encode learning and memory.

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Author details

  1. Yihui Cui

    Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, College de France, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Ilya Prokin

    French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, Villeurbanne, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Hao Xu

    Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, College de France, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Bruno Delord

    University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Stephane Genet

    University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Laurent Venance

    Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology, College de France, Paris, France
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Hugues Berry

    French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, Villeurbanne, France
    For correspondence
    hugues.berry@inria.fr
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Upinder S Bhalla, National Centre for Biological Sciences, India

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All experiments were performed in accordance with local animal welfare committee (Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology and EU guidelines, directive 2010/63/EU).

Version history

  1. Received: November 19, 2015
  2. Accepted: February 26, 2016
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: February 27, 2016 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: March 16, 2016 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2016, Cui et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Yihui Cui
  2. Ilya Prokin
  3. Hao Xu
  4. Bruno Delord
  5. Stephane Genet
  6. Laurent Venance
  7. Hugues Berry
(2016)
Endocannabinoid dynamics gate spike-timing dependent depression and potentiation
eLife 5:e13185.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13185

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.13185

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