The influence of sensory experience on the glutamatergic synapse

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Abstract

The ability of glutamatergic synaptic strength to change in response to prevailing neuronal activity is believed to underlie the capacity of animals, including humans, to learn from experience. This learning better equips animals to safely navigate challenging and potentially harmful environments, while reinforcing behaviours that are conducive to survival. Early descriptions of the influence of experience on behaviour were provided by Donald Hebb who showed that an enriched environment improved performance of rats in a variety of behavioural tasks, challenging the widely-held view at the time that psychological development and intelligence were largely predetermined through genetic inheritance. Subsequent studies in a variety of species provided detailed cellular and molecular insights into the neurobiological adaptations associated with enrichment and its counterparts, isolation and deprivation. Here we review those experience-dependent changes that occur at the glutamatergic synapse, and which likely underlie the enhanced cognition associated with enrichment. We focus on the importance of signalling initiated by the release of BDNF, and a prime downstream effector, MSK1, in orchestrating the many structural and functional neuronal adaptations associated with enrichment. In particular we discuss the MSK1-dependent expansion of the dynamic range of the glutamatergic synapse, which may allow enhanced information storage or processing, and the establishment of a genomic homeostasis that may both stabilise the enriched brain, and may make it better able to respond to novel experiences.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history
Q Science > QP Physiology
Divisions: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- )
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Glutamic acid , Cognition , Gene expression , Neuroplasticity, Nucleotide sequence
Journal or Publication Title: Neuropharmacology
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 0028-3908
Official Date: 1 August 2021
Dates:
Date
Event
1 August 2021
Published
26 May 2021
Available
19 May 2021
Accepted
Volume: 193
Article Number: 108620
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108620
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access
Date of first compliant deposit: 26 May 2021
Date of first compliant Open Access: 26 May 2022
URI: https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/153127/

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