Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors modulate late phase long-term potentiation in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons: comparison of apical and basal dendrites.

The hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) at Schaffer collateral synapses onto CA1 pyramidal neurons has been widely studied as a cellular model of activity-dependent enhancement of synaptic transmission. The apical (stratum radiatum) and basal dendrites (stratum oriens) of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons differ in LTP induction and maintenance. Here, the role of mGlu receptors in the induction and maintenance of late-LTP was investigated, in comparison of these two compartments. My results show that mGlu1 receptor modulates late-LTP in apical dendrites and basal dendrites, whereas mGlu5 receptor modulates late-LTP only in apical dendrites.