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Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Learning & Memory, 6(21), p. 305-310, 2014

DOI: 10.1101/lm.034827.114

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Molecular correlates of cortical network modulation by long-term sensory experience in the adult rat barrel cortex

Journal article published in 2014 by Astrid Vallès ORCID, Ivica Granic, Peter De Weerd, Gerard J. M. Martens
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Modulation of cortical network connectivity is crucial for an adaptive response to experience. In the rat barrel cortex, long-term sensory stimulation induces cortical network modifications and neuronal response changes of which the molecular basis is unknown. Here, we show that long-term somatosensory stimulation by enriched environment up-regulates cortical expression of neuropeptide mRNAs and down-regulates immediate-early gene (IEG) mRNAs specifically in the barrel cortex, and not in other brain regions. The present data suggest a central role of neuropeptides in the fine-tuning of sensory cortical circuits by long-term experience.