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Science 16 December 2005:
Vol. 310. no. 5755, pp. 1809 - 1813
DOI: 10.1126/science.1114655
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Reports

Long-Term Modulation of Electrical Synapses in the Mammalian Thalamus

Carole E. Landisman1,2* and Barry W. Connors1

Electrical synapses are common between inhibitory neurons in the mammalian thalamus and neocortex. Synaptic modulation, which allows flexibility of communication between neurons, has been studied extensively at chemical synapses, but modulation of electrical synapses in the mammalian brain has barely been examined. We found that the activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors, via endogenous neurotransmitter or by agonist, causes long-term reduction of electrical synapse strength between the inhibitory neurons of the rat thalamic reticular nucleus.

1 Department of Neuroscience, Division of Biology and Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
2 Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, 220 Longwood Avenue, GB2-504, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Carole_Landisman{at}hms.harvard.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)