Functional Metaplasticity of Hippocampal Schaffer Collateral-CA1 Synapses Is Reversed in Chronically Epileptic Rats

Figure 1

Functional metaplasticity by spatial memory training in adolescent rats. (a) Experimental paradigm indicating pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus (PILO) and time points of both training and LTP (which was always tested one day after completing seven days of training). Four groups of animals were tested (control and epileptic rats, with or without training). (b) Spatial memory acquisition (as assessed by the cumulative escape latency of six consecutive trials per day) was significantly impaired in epileptic animals (red symbols) compared to controls (black symbols). (c, d) Spatial memory training (filled symbols) significantly reduced subsequent CA1-LTP in vitro in controls as compared to untrained controls (open symbols) but had no significant effect on CA1-LTP in epileptic animals. (e) Bar graphs summarizing CA1-LTP levels of the four groups of animals. and .

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