In contrast, there was no significant correlation during the baseline period and during time points 40 min or longer after stimulation. In addition, there was also no correlation between stimulated spines and unstimulated neighboring spines (Figure 5E) indicating that the competition is specific to stimulated spines. These data suggest that the amount of protein that can be produced PF-02341066 in vitro within a dendritic compartment at a certain time is limited such that two spines stimulated close together in space and time may compete for available proteins and, hence, for the expression of L-LTP. This might occur due to the relatively limited translational machinery and/or mRNA at the dendritic branch

(as compared to the soma) (Schuman et al., 2006). Activity-induced mRNA degradation may also contribute to this phenomenon (Giorgi et al., 2007). These results also suggest that spine

growth is a bidirectional rather than a unidirectional dynamic process. Can later stimulated spines still compete with earlier stimulated spines? To address this question, we gave GLU stimulation to a third spine (E3), 5–15 μm from L1 and L2 spatially located between L1 and L2, 30 min later, at a time when both L1 and L2 have grown, but not to their maximal levels. We found that the growth of L1 and L2 was slowed down by the stimulation of E3 (Figures 5F and 5G), and the growth of E3 was reduced by the previous stimulation of L1 and L2, as compared Ibrutinib to the case of E2 when only L1 was previously stimulated (Figures 5F and 5H). A similar result was obtained when GLU stimulation at E3 was replaced with GLU+FSK stimulation with anisomycin (L3; Figures S4E–S4G). Thus, we demonstrate that at the single-spine level, spines can compete with each other for the expression of L-LTP, presumably due to competition for PrPs. The NMDA glutamate receptor

(NMDAR), necessary for the induction of many forms of synaptic plasticity, can only be activated when it is not blocked by Mg+2 ions (Malenka and Bear, 2004). This unblocking of the receptor is thought to occur in vivo through depolarization caused by the cooperative activation of multiple maribavir AMPA glutamate receptors (Malenka and Bear, 2004). In our experiments described up to this point, we used 0 mM Mg+2 during the uncaging process to allow NMDAR activation without stimulating more than one spine. Thus, we were able to study STC without the confound of L-LTP being induced at multiple spines. However, under physiological conditions, the concentration of Mg+2 is 0.8–1.2 mM (Chutkow, 1974). In a bid to simulate such conditions, we sought to establish a protocol that would allow for LTP induction in the presence of 1 mM Mg+2 by stimulating multiple spines in a pseudosynchronous manner (Losonczy and Magee, 2006 and Losonczy et al., 2008).