PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - McKay, Bridget M.
AU  - Oh, M. Matthew
AU  - Disterhoft, John F.
TI  - Learning Increases Intrinsic Excitability of Hippocampal Interneurons
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4068-12.2013
DP  - 2013 Mar 27
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 5499--5506
VI  - 33
IP  - 13
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/13/5499.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/13/5499.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2013 Mar 27; 33
AB  - Learning-related intrinsic excitability changes of pyramidal neurons via modulation of the postburst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) have been repeatedly demonstrated in multiple brain regions (especially the hippocampus), after a variety of learning tasks, and in multiple species. While exciting and important, the changes in pyramidal neurons are only a part of the neural circuitry involved in successful learning. For a more complete picture of the dynamic learning-related changes in the neural network, changes in inhibitory circuitry must also be systematically examined and characterized. Here we show in young adult rats and mice that learning the hippocampus-dependent trace eyeblink conditioning task induces enhanced inhibition onto CA1 pyramidal neurons mediated, in part, by an increase in intrinsic excitability of somatostatin-positive inhibitory neurons (SOMs). Furthermore, both CA1 pyramidal and SOM interneurons shared a common cellular mechanism (reduction in SK channel-mediated AHP) that led to the learning-induced increased intrinsic excitability.