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Focused Review ARTICLE

Relationship of hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations to potentiation of synaptic transmission

Arthur Bikbaev¹ and Denise Manahan-Vaughan^1,2*

Department of Experimental Neurophysiology, Medical Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

In the hippocampus in vivo, both synaptic plasticity and network activity are closely interdependent. We have found that immediately after an attempt to induce long-term potentiation (LTP), changes in theta (5–10 Hz) and gamma (30–100 Hz) activity correlate tightly with the occurrence of LTP, suggesting that tetanisation-driven activation of sensory inputs synchronises the activity of granule cells and interneurons, and thus, facilitates the encoding of acquired stimuli. This results in increase of theta and gamma power, and elevates the probability that afferent stimuli both coincide with the peak of theta cycle and reach their post-synaptic target within the gamma time-window (of 10–30 ms). Both these mechanisms can effectively shift the direction, of tetanisation-induced changes in synaptic weight, towards potentiation and induction of LTP. Here, we discuss our findings in the context of possible mechanisms that link theta and gamma oscillations with LTP induction, as well as their role in information processing and formation of memories.

Keywords:

LTP, theta, gamma, network activity, oscillations, synaptic plasticity, tetanisation, in vivo

Citation:

Bikbaev A and Manahan-Vaughan D (2008). Relationship of hippocampal theta and gamma oscillations to potentiation of synaptic transmission. Front. Neurosci. 2,1: 56-63. doi: 10.3389/neuro.01.010.2008

Received:

15 May 2008;

Paper pending published:

13 June 2008;

Accepted:

13 June 2008;

Published online:

15 July 2008.

Edited by:

Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Reviewed by:

Bruno Poucet, CNRS and Université de Provence, France
Alexander Dityatev, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy

© 2008 Bikbaev and Manahan-Vaughan. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.

*Correspondence:

Denise Manahan-Vaughan, Department of Experimental Neurophysiology, Medical Faculty, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse 150, MA 01/551,44780 Bochum,Germany. e-mail: denise.manahan-vaughan@rub.de