Experience-dependent maturation of neocortical circuits is required for normal sensory and cognitive abilities, which are distorted in neurodevelopmental disorders. We tested whether experience-dependent neocortical modifications require Ube3a, an E3 ubiquitin ligase whose dysregulation has been implicated in autism and Angelman syndrome. Using visual cortex as a model, we found that experience...

Organisms have a remarkable capacity to respond to environmental change. They can either respond directly, by means of phenotypic plasticity, or they can slowly adapt through evolution. Yet, how phenotypic plasticity links to evolutionary adaptability is largely unknown. Current studies of plasticity tend to adopt a phenomenological reaction norm (RN) approach, which neglects the mechanisms und...

Numerous studies have shown that cerebellar function is related to the plasticity at the synapses between parallel fibers and Purkinje cells. How specific input patterns determine plasticity outcomes, as well as the biophysics underlying plasticity of these synapses, remain unclear. Here, we characterize the patterns of activity that lead to postsynaptically expressed LTP using both in vivo and...

Although already William James and, more explicitly, Donald Hebb's theory of cell assemblies have suggested that activity-dependent rewiring of neuronal networks is the substrate of learning and memory, over the last six decades most theoretical work on memory has focused on plasticity of existing synapses in prewired networks. Research in the last decade has emphasized that structural modifica...

Homeostatic plasticity is considered to maintain activity in neuronal circuits within a functional range. In the absence of homeostatic plasticity neuronal activity is prone to be destabilized because Hebbian plasticity mechanisms induce positive feedback change. Several studies on homeostatic plasticity assumed the existence of a process for monitoring neuronal activity on a time scale of hour...

Early temporary windows of heightened brain plasticity called critical periods developmentally sculpt neural circuits and contribute to adult behavior. Regulatory mechanisms of visual cortex development - the preeminent model of experience-dependent critical period plasticity-actively limit adult plasticity and have proved fruitful therapeutic targets to reopen plasticity and rewire faulty visu...