Serotonin as a mediator of cross-modal cortical reorganization

Abstract

When one type of sensory system is disrupted, other intact remaining sensory function can be improved. Although this form of plasticity, cross-modal plasticity, is widely known, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying it are poorly understood. In a recent study, we demonstrated that visual deprivation increases extracellular serotonin in the juvenile rat barrel cortex and resulted in facilitation of synaptic delivery of AMPA-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs) at layer4-2/3 synapses in the barrel cortex via the activation of serotonin 5HT2A/2C receptors and ERK. This caused sharpening of functional whisker-barrel map at layer2/3 of the barrel cortex. Thus, sensory dysfunction of one modality leads to improvement of remaining modalities by the refinement of cortical organization through serotonin signaling-mediated facilitation of synaptic AMPARs delivery.

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Figures and Tables

Figure 1 Visual deprivation increases extracellular serotonin at layer2/3 of juvenile rat barrel cortex. This leads to the facilitation of synaptic GluR1 delivery at layer4-2/3 synapses of the barrel cortex by increasing the phosphorylation of GluR1 at Ser845 via activation of serotonin 5HT2A/2C receptors and ERK. Furthermore, this results in the improvement whisker-barrel function.

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