Nitric oxide acts as a retrograde messenger during long-term potentiation in cultured hippocampal neurons.

We examined long-term potentiation (LTP) at synapses between hippocampal neurons in dissociated cell culture following presynaptic, postsynaptic, or extracellular application of a nitric oxide (NO) scavenger, an inhibitor of NO synthase, and a membrane-impermeant NO donor that releases NO only upon photolysis with UV light. Our results indicate that NO is produced in the postsynaptic neuron, travels through the extracellular space, and acts directly in the presynaptic neuron to produce long-term potentiation, supporting the hypothesis that NO acts as a retrograde messenger during LTP.