@article {4298,
	title = {Structural plasticity underlies experience-dependent functional plasticity of cortical circuits.},
	journal = {The Journal of Neuroscience},
	volume = {30},
	year = {2010},
	month = {2010 Apr 7},
	pages = {4927-32},
	abstract = {<p>The stabilization of new spines in the barrel cortex is enhanced after whisker trimming, but its relationship to experience-dependent plasticity is unclear. Here we show that in wild-type mice, whisker potentiation and spine stabilization are most pronounced for layer 5 neurons at the border between spared and deprived barrel columns. In homozygote alphaCaMKII-T286A mice, which lack experience-dependent potentiation of responses to spared whiskers, there is no increase in new spine stabilization at the border between barrel columns after whisker trimming. Our data provide a causal link between new spine synapses and plasticity of adult cortical circuits and suggest that alphaCaMKII autophosphorylation plays a role in the stabilization but not formation of new spines.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Cerebral Cortex, Dendritic Spines, Inbred C57BL, Learning, Male, Mice, Nerve Net, Neuronal Plasticity, Synapses, Transgenic, Vibrissae},
	issn = {1529-2401},
	doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6403-09.2010},
	author = {Wilbrecht, Linda and Holtmaat, Anthony and Wright, Nick and Fox, Kevin and Svoboda, Karel}
}
@article {4267,
	title = {Experience-dependent structural synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain.},
	journal = {Nature Reviews Neuroscience},
	volume = {10},
	year = {2009},
	month = {2009 Sep},
	pages = {647-58},
	abstract = {<p>Synaptic plasticity in adult neural circuits may involve the strengthening or weakening of existing synapses as well as structural plasticity, including synapse formation and elimination. Indeed, long-term in vivo imaging studies are beginning to reveal the structural dynamics of neocortical neurons in the normal and injured adult brain. Although the overall cell-specific morphology of axons and dendrites, as well as of a subpopulation of small synaptic structures, are remarkably stable, there is increasing evidence that experience-dependent plasticity of specific circuits in the somatosensory and visual cortex involves cell type-specific structural plasticity: some boutons and dendritic spines appear and disappear, accompanied by synapse formation and elimination, respectively. This Review focuses on recent evidence for such structural forms of synaptic plasticity in the mammalian cortex and outlines open questions.</p>
},
	keywords = {Animals, Brain, Humans, Nerve Net, Neurogenesis, Neuronal Plasticity, Synapses},
	issn = {1471-0048},
	doi = {10.1038/nrn2699},
	author = {Holtmaat, Anthony and Svoboda, Karel}
}
