RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Postsynaptic Complex Spike Bursting Enables the Induction of LTP by Theta Frequency Synaptic Stimulation JF The Journal of Neuroscience JO J. Neurosci. FD Society for Neuroscience SP 7118 OP 7126 DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-18-07118.1998 VO 18 IS 18 A1 Mark J. Thomas A1 Ayako M. Watabe A1 Teena D. Moody A1 Michael Makhinson A1 Thomas J. O’Dell YR 1998 UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/18/18/7118.abstract AB Long-term potentiation (LTP), a persistent enhancement of synaptic transmission that may be involved in some forms of learning and memory, is induced at excitatory synapses in the CA1 region of the hippocampus by coincident presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. Although action potentials back-propagating into dendrites of hippocampal pyramidal cells provide sufficient postsynaptic activity to induce LTP under somein vitro conditions, it is not known whether LTP can be induced by patterns of postsynaptic action potential firing that occur in these cells in vivo. Here we report that a characteristic in vivo pattern of action potential generation in CA1 pyramidal cells known as the complex spike burst enables the induction of LTP during theta frequency synaptic stimulation in the CA1 region of hippocampal slices maintainedin vitro. Our results suggest that complex spike bursting may have an important role in synaptic processes involved in learning and memory formation, perhaps by producing a highly sensitive postsynaptic state during which even low frequencies of presynaptic activity can induce LTP.