Depotentiation depends on IP3 receptor activation sustained by synaptic inputs after LTP induction.

In CA1 neurons of guinea pig hippocampal slices, long-term potentiation (LTP) was induced in field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) or population spikes (PSs) by the delivery of high-frequency stimulation (HFS, 100 pulses at 100 Hz) to CA1 synapses, and was reversed by the delivery of a train of low-frequency stimulation (LFS, 1000 pulses at 2 Hz) at 30 min after HFS (depotentiation), and this effect was inhibited when test synaptic stimulation was halted for a 19-min period after HFS or for a 20-min period after LFS or applied over the same time period in the presence of an antagonist of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs), group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), or inositol 1, 4, 5-trisphosphate receptors (IP3Rs). Depotentiation was also blocked by the application of a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor or a calcineurin inhibitor applied in the presence of test synaptic input for a 10-min period after HFS or for a 20-min period after LFS. These results suggest that, in postsynaptic neurons, the coactivation of NMDARs and group I mGluRs due to sustained synaptic activity following LTP induction results in the activation of IP3Rs and CaMKII, which leads to the activation of calcineurin after LFS and depotentiation of CA1 synaptic responses.