Abstract
Time-lapse imaging techniques are widely used to monitor dendritic spine dynamics, a measurement of synaptic plasticity. However, it is challenging to follow the dynamics of spines over an extended period in vivo during development or in deep brain structures that are beyond the reach of traditional microscopes. Here, we describe an AMPA receptor-based optical approach to monitor recent history of synaptic plasticity. This method allows the identification of spines that have recently acquired synaptic AMPA receptors in a single imaging session, so that synaptic plasticity that occurs in vivo in a variety of conditions can be simply imaged in an ex vivo preparation.
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Acknowledgements
We thank R. Malinow for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIH, the Dana Foundation, NARSAD (B.L.), and the Uehara Memorial Foundation (H.M.).
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Makino, H., Li, B. (2013). Monitoring Synaptic Plasticity by Imaging AMPA Receptor Content and Dynamics on Dendritic Spines. In: Zhou, R., Mei, L. (eds) Neural Development. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1018. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-444-9_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-444-9_25
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