PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Hervé Fiorentino AU - Nicola Kuczewski AU - Diabe Diabira AU - Nadine Ferrand AU - Menelas N. Pangalos AU - Christophe Porcher AU - Jean-Luc Gaiarsa TI - GABA<sub>B</sub> Receptor Activation Triggers BDNF Release and Promotes the Maturation of GABAergic Synapses AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3587-09.2009 DP - 2009 Sep 16 TA - The Journal of Neuroscience PG - 11650--11661 VI - 29 IP - 37 4099 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/37/11650.short 4100 - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/37/11650.full SO - J. Neurosci.2009 Sep 16; 29 AB - GABA, the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the adult brain, has recently emerged as an important signal in network development. Most of the trophic functions of GABA have been attributed to depolarization of the embryonic and neonatal neurons via the activation of ionotropic GABAA receptors. Here we demonstrate a novel mechanism by which endogenous GABA selectively regulates the development of GABAergic synapses in the developing brain. Using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings on newborn mouse hippocampi lacking functional GABAB receptors (GABAB-Rs) and time-lapse fluorescence imaging on cultured hippocampal neurons expressing GFP-tagged brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), we found that activation of metabotropic GABAB receptors (GABAB-Rs) triggers secretion of BDNF and promotes the development of perisomatic GABAergic synapses in the newborn mouse hippocampus. Because activation of GABAB-Rs occurs during the characteristic ongoing physiological network-driven synaptic activity present in the developing hippocampus, our results reveal a new mechanism by which synaptic activity can modulate the development of local GABAergic synaptic connections in the developing brain.