Homeostatic synaptic plasticity: from single synapses to neural circuits

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Homeostatic synaptic plasticity remains an enigmatic form of synaptic plasticity. Increasing interest on the topic has fuelled a surge of recent studies that have identified key molecular players and the signaling pathways involved. However, the new findings also highlight our lack of knowledge concerning some of the basic properties of homeostatic synaptic plasticity. In this review we address how homeostatic mechanisms balance synaptic strengths between the presynaptic and the postsynaptic terminals and across synapses that share the same postsynaptic neuron.

Highlights

► Homeostatic plasticity tunes presynaptic and postsynaptic strengths to altered activity. ► Matching of presynaptic and postsynaptic strengths uses dendritic retrograde signals. ► Global and local homeostatic synaptic plasticities are likely to operate in parallel. ► Heterosynaptic interactions may help co-ordinate Hebbian and homeostatic changes.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.