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Local learning rules: predicted influence of dendritic location on synaptic modification in spike-timing-dependent plasticity

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Abstract.

Recent indirect experimental evidence suggests that synaptic plasticity changes along the dendrites of a neuron. Here we present a synaptic plasticity rule which is controlled by the properties of the pre- and postsynaptic signals. Using recorded membrane traces of back-propagating and dendritic spikes we demonstrate that LTP and LTD will depend specifically on the shape of the postsynaptic depolarization at a given dendritic site. We find that asymmetrical spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) can be replaced by temporally symmetrical plasticity within physiologically relevant time windows if the postsynaptic depolarization rises shallow. Presynaptically the rule depends on the NMDA channel characteristic, and the model predicts that an increase in Mg2+ will attenuate the STDP curve without changing its shape. Furthermore, the model suggests that the profile of LTD should be governed by the postsynaptic signal while that of LTP mainly depends on the presynaptic signal shape.

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Acknowledgments.

This work was supported by EPSRC and SHEFC. We wish to thank L. Smith, T. Mittmann, and K. Gottmann for helpful discussions. Special thanks go to Leo van Hemmen, who discussed the analytical solution with us in a slightly inconventional way between two lectures at the Göttingen Neurobiology Meeting at the lecture hall blackboard.

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  1. Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Ausra Saudargiene, Bernd Porr & Florentin Wörgötter

  2. Department of Informatics, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Ausra Saudargiene

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  1. Ausra Saudargiene
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Correspondence to Florentin Wörgötter.

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Saudargiene, A., Porr, B. & Wörgötter, F. Local learning rules: predicted influence of dendritic location on synaptic modification in spike-timing-dependent plasticity. Biol Cybern 92, 128–138 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00422-004-0525-z

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