Long-term plasticity of excitatory inputs to granule cells in the rat olfactory bulb

Using 2-photon-guided focal stimulation, we demonstrate spike timing-dependent plasticity of proximal excitatory inputs to olfactory bulb granule cells that originate, in part, from cortical feedback projections. The protocol that potentiated proximal inputs depressed distal, dendrodendritic inputs to granule cells. Granule cell EPSPs, and mitral cell inhibition, also were potentiated by theta-burst stimulation. Plasticity of cortical feedback inputs to interneurons provides a novel mechanism to encode information by modulating bulbar inhibition.