The Journal of Neuroscience, January 3, 2007, 27(1):46-58; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3966-06.2007
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Neurobiology of Disease
Prevention of Plasticity of Endocannabinoid Signaling Inhibits Persistent Limbic Hyperexcitability Caused by Developmental Seizures
Kang Chen,1
Axel Neu,1
Allyson L. Howard,1
Csaba Földy,1
Julio Echegoyen,1
Lutz Hilgenberg,1
Martin Smith,1
Ken Mackie,2 and
Ivan Soltesz1
1Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, and 2Department of Anesthesiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Ivan Soltesz, Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-1280. Email: isoltesz{at}uci.edu
Depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI) is an endocannabinoid-mediated short-term plasticity mechanism that couples postsynaptic Ca2+ rises to decreased presynaptic GABA release. Whether the gain of this retrograde synaptic mechanism is subject to long-term modulation by glutamatergic excitatory inputs is not known. Here, we demonstrate that activity-dependent long-term DSI potentiation takes place in hippocampal slices after tetanic stimulation of Schaffer collateral synapses. This activity-dependent, long-term plasticity of endocannabinoid signaling was specific to GABAergic synapses, as it occurred without increases in the depolarization-induced suppression of excitation. Induction of tetanus-induced DSI potentiation in vitro required a complex pathway involving AMPA/kainate and metabotropic glutamate receptor as well as CB1 receptor activation. Because DSI potentiation has been suggested to play a role in persistent limbic hyperexcitability after prolonged seizures in the developing brain, we used these mechanistic insights into activity-dependent DSI potentiation to test whether interference with the induction of DSI potentiation prevents seizure-induced long-term hyperexcitability. The results showed that the in vitro, tetanus-induced DSI potentiation was occluded by previous in vivo fever-induced (febrile) seizures, indicating a common pathway. Accordingly, application of CB1 receptor antagonists during febrile seizures in vivo blocked the seizure-induced persistent DSI potentiation, abolished the seizure-induced upregulation of CB1 receptors, and prevented the emergence of long-term limbic hyperexcitability. These results reveal a new form of activity-dependent, long-term plasticity of endocannabinoid signaling at perisomatic GABAergic synapses, and demonstrate that blocking the induction of this plasticity abolishes the long-term effects of prolonged febrile seizures in the developing brain.
Key words: cannabinoid; inhibition; plasticity; seizure; development; hippocampus
Received Sept. 12, 2006;
revised Oct. 27, 2006;
accepted Nov. 22, 2006.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Ivan Soltesz, Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697-1280. Email: isoltesz{at}uci.edu
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