Abstract
Mechanisms underlying experience-dependent refinement of cortical connections, especially GABAergic inhibitory circuits, are unknown. By using a line of mutant mice that lack activity-dependent BDNF expression (bdnf-KIV), we show that experience regulation of cortical GABAergic network is mediated by activity-driven BDNF expression. Levels of endogenous BDNF protein in the barrel cortex are strongly regulated by sensory inputs from whiskers. There is a severe alteration of excitation and inhibition balance in the barrel cortex of bdnf-KIV mice as a result of reduced inhibitory but not excitatory conductance. Within the inhibitory circuits, the mutant barrel cortex exhibits significantly reduced levels of GABA release only from the parvalbumin-expressing fast-spiking (FS) interneurons, but not other interneuron subtypes. Postnatal deprivation of sensory inputs markedly decreased perisomatic inhibition selectively from FS cells in wild-type but not bdnf-KIV mice. These results suggest that postnatal experience, through activity-driven BDNF expression, controls cortical development by regulating FS cell-mediated perisomatic inhibition in vivo.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 12131-12136 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 108 |
Issue number | 29 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 19 2011 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Brain derived neurotrophic factor
- Neurotrophin
- Plasticity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General