Additive feature of long-term potentiation and phorbol ester-induced synaptic enhancement in the mossy fiber-CA3 synapse.

Application of phorbol esters, selective activators of protein kinase C (PKC), causes a long-lasting enhancement of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. We examined the relationship between this phorbol ester-induced enhancement of synaptic transmission and long-term potentiation (LTP) quantitatively in the mossy fiber-CA3 synapse of the guinea pig hippocampus in vitro. Potentiating action of 0.5 microM phorbol 12,13-diacetate (PDAc) on synaptic transmission was almost unaffected by preceding tetanic stimuli which had caused a full development of LTP. Tetanic stimulation induced LTP even after synaptic transmission had been enhanced by 0.5 microM PDAc. Quantitative estimations revealed that PDAc-induced synaptic enhancement and LTP were simply additive to each other. The relation between LTP and PKC activation is discussed.