Competition for synaptic building blocks shapes synaptic plasticity
- Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany
Abstract
Changes in the efficacies of synapses are thought to be the neurobiological basis of learning and memory. The efficacy of a synapse depends on its current number of neurotransmitter receptors. Recent experiments have shown that these receptors are highly dynamic, moving back and forth between synapses on time scales of seconds and minutes. This suggests spontaneous fluctuations in synaptic efficacies and a competition of nearby synapses for available receptors. Here we propose a mathematical model of this competition of synapses for neurotransmitter receptors from a local dendritic pool. Using minimal assumptions, the model produces a fast multiplicative scaling behavior of synapses. Furthermore, the model explains a transient form of heterosynaptic plasticity and predicts that its amount is inversely related to the size of the local receptor pool. Overall, our model reveals logistical tradeoffs during the induction of synaptic plasticity due to the rapid exchange of neurotransmitter receptors between synapses.
Data availability
Program code of the model is publicly available at:https://github.com/triesch/synaptic-competition
Article and author information
Author details
Anne-Sophie Hafner
Funding
Johanna Quandt Foundation
- Jochen Triesch
European Molecular Biology Organization (ALTF 1095-2015)
- Anne-Sophie Hafner
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (3.3-1184902-FRA-HFST-P)
- Anne-Sophie Hafner
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2018, Triesch 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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Competition for synaptic building blocks shapes synaptic plasticity
eLife 7:e37836.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.37836
