Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROBIOLOGY
Volume 72, Issue 4, Pages 465-474Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/dneu.20920
Keywords
neuronal plasticity; activity-dependent plasticity; neurotransmitter switching; dopamine and GABA coexpression; sensory stimulation; development
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Funding
- NIH [NS15918, MH74702]
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The identity of the neurotransmitters expressed by neurons has been thought to be fixed and immutable, but recent studies demonstrate that changes in electrical activity can rapidly and reversibly reconfigure the transmitters and corresponding transmitter receptors that neurons express. Induction of transmitter expression can be achieved by selective activation of afferents recruited by a physiological range of sensory input. Strikingly, neurons acquiring an additional transmitter project to appropriate targets prior to transmitter respecification in some cases, indicating the presence of reserve pools of neurons that can boost circuit function. We discuss the evidence for such reserve pools, their likely locations and ways to test for their existence, and the potential clinical value of such circuit-specific neurotransmitter respecification for treatments of neurological disorders. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 72: 465474, 2012
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