Whisker experience-dependent mGluR signaling maintains synaptic strength in the mouse adolescent cortex.

Sensory experience-dependent plasticity in the somatosensory cortex is a fundamental mechanism of adaptation to the changing environment not only early in the development but also in adolescence and adulthood. Although the mechanisms underlying experience-dependent plasticity during early development have been well documented, the corresponding understanding in the mature cortex is less complete. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying whisker deprivation-induced synaptic plasticity in the barrel cortex in adolescent mice. Layer 4 (L4) to L2/3 excitatory synapses play a crucial role for whisker experience-dependent plasticity in rodent barrel cortex and whisker deprivation is known to depress synaptic strength at L4-L2/3 synapses in adolescent and adult animals. We found that whisker deprivation for 5 days or longer decreased the presynaptic glutamate release probability at L4-L2/3 synapses in the barrel cortex in adolescent mice. This whisker deprivation-induced depression was restored by daily administration of a positive allosteric modulator of the type 5 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR5). On the other hand, the administration of mGluR5 antagonists reproduced the effect of whisker deprivation in whisker-intact mice. Furthermore, chronic and selective suppression of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3 ) signaling in postsynaptic L2/3 neurons decreased the presynaptic release probability at L4-L2/3 synapses. These findings represent a previously unidentified mechanism of cortical plasticity, namely that whisker experience-dependent mGluR5-IP3 signaling in the postsynaptic neurons maintains presynaptic function in the adolescent barrel cortex.