Long-term potentiation and paired-pulse facilitation in the prelimbic cortex of the rat following stimulation in the contralateral hemisphere in vivo

Abstract

We demonstrate here for the first time that the afferent fibres to the prelimbic component of prefrontal cortex and/or their associated, recurrent collateral local-circuit axons are capable of expressing paired-pulse facilitation and long-term potentiation after stimulation of the prelimbic component in the contralateral hemisphere. Long-term potentiation resulted from both high- and low-frequency stimulation protocols. It was not possible to obtain either depotentiation of previously potentiated synapses or long-term depression with the protocol used. Input-output analyses revealed interactions between separate components of the evoked responses. Since neurophysiological and computational theories of the rodent navigational system include the prefrontal cortex, these findings add important information to theories of prefrontal function and spatial representation in the rodent.