Synaptic plasticity: a key player in presynaptic plasticity.

摘要

Presynaptic forms of long-term plasticity involve changes in probability of transmitter release They can occur at both excitatory and inhibitory synapses and contribute to behaviours such as learning and memory One common form of such plasticity at inhibitory synapses is endocannabmoid-dependent presynaptic long term depression (LTD) Whether or not a member of the RAB3 synaptic vesicle protein family is involved in this form of plasticity was unknown Now.Tsetsems et al show that RAB3B is crucial for endocannabmoid dependent LTD at inhibitory hippocampal CA1 synapses (termed i-LTD) and plays a part in spatial memory retentionThere are four RAB3 isoforms Using immu-nohistochemical techniques the authors found that RAB3B is enriched at inhibitory hippocampal CA1 synapses Thus, RAB3B might be an important contributor to plasticity at these synapses