ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell. Neurosci.
Sec. Cellular Neurophysiology
This article is part of the Research TopicSynaptic Plasticity Across the Lifespan: Mechanisms, Adaptation, and VulnerabilityView all 3 articles
Cholesterol depletion inhibits BDNF-dependent spike timing-dependent plasticity at thalamo-amygdala synapses
Provisionally accepted
- Otto-von-Guericke-Universitat Magdeburg Institut fur Physiologie, Magdeburg, Germany
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The neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has emerged as a key regulator of synaptic plasticity in hippocampus and cortex of mammalian brains. In the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA), BDNF is involved in the control of long-term potentiation (LTP). Here, we show that BDNF is involved in spike-timing dependent potentiation (STDP) of thalamic inputs onto LA projection neurons. Inhibition of BDNF/TrkB signaling with the TrkB scavenger TrkB/FC completely blocked this timing-dependent form of LTP (t-LTP). Disruption of lipid-rafts by depletion of cholesterol from synaptic microdomains with Methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD) also prevented induction and expression of t-LTP. These data suggest that BDNF-induced TrkB translocation into synaptic lipid-rafts is required for induction of t-LTP at thalamo-amygdala synapses. Since cholesterol-dependent modulation is not unique for TrkB receptor signaling but has been described for other receptors and ion channels involved in synaptic plasticity, additional studies are required to obtain a more complete picture regarding their role in t-LTP at thalamo-amygdala afferents.
Keywords: Amygdala, BDNF, lipid rafts, Long-Term Potentiation, LTP, patch-clamp, STDP, TrkB receptor
Received: 16 Dec 2025; Accepted: 22 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Munsch, Meis and Lessmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Volkmar Lessmann
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