ENDOCANNABINOID-MEDIATED SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN THE CNS

✍ Scribed by Chevaleyre, Vivien; Takahashi, Kanji A.; Castillo, Pablo E.

• Book ID: 118233604
• Publisher: Annual Reviews
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 474 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0147-006X
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev.neuro.29.051605.112834

✦ Synopsis

Changes in synaptic efficacy are thought to be crucial to experience-dependent modifications of neural function. The diversity of mechanisms underlying these changes is far greater than previously expected. In the last five years, a new class of use-dependent synaptic plasticity that requires retrograde signaling by endocannabinoids (eCB) and presynaptic CB1 receptor activation has been identified in several brain structures. eCB-mediated plasticity encompasses many forms of transient and long-lasting synaptic depression and is found at both excitatory and inhibitory synapses. In addition, eCBs can modify the inducibility of non-eCB-mediated forms of plasticity. Thus, the eCB system is emerging as a major player in synaptic plasticity. Given the wide distribution of CB1 receptors in the CNS, the list of brain structures and synapses expressing eCB-mediated plasticity is likely to expand.