Laminar analysis of the role of GluR1 in experience-dependent and synaptic depression in barrel cortex

Abstract
There are many mechanisms for LTD, but it remains unknown which one underlies experience-dependent plasticity during development. Wright and colleagues now report that LTD in response to developmental deprivation depends on the GluR1 subunit in barrel cortex layers 2/3 and 4. Several synaptic depression mechanisms have been described for the hippocampus, cerebellum and neocortex in vitro, but little is known about which, if any, are engaged during experience-dependent depression (EDD). We found that EDD in the mouse barrel cortex depends on the AMPA subunit GluR1 in layers II/III and IV, but not in layer V, and that long-term depression is also GluR1 dependent in the IV-II/III, but not II/III–V, pathway.