The diversity of the plasticitome

The plasticity of synaptic connections is critical to the functioning of local circuits as it is thought to underlie information processing and storage in the brain. Traditionally, synaptic plasticity has been studied at excitatory connections to principal neurons of local circuits, such as at Schaeffer collateral inputs to hippocampal CA1 pyramidal cells, parallel fibre inputs to cerebellar Purkinje cells, or at monosynaptic connections between neocortical layer-5 pyramidal cells. This view, however, has neglected other key aspects of plasticity, such as neuromodulation, intrinsic excitability, or connections to and from inhibitory interneurons. By including these other types of plasticity, the sheer diversity is fully appreciated and our understanding of information processing in the brain is no longer artificially constrained by an arbitrary focus on principal neurons. Well-known concepts such as genomics, proteomics, and connectomics have emerged from big-data perspectives on the diversity of genes, proteins, and neuronal connections. The time is now ripe for the corresponding zoomed-out perspective on plasticity in local circuits, which yields the plasticitome, i.e., a relatively complete collection of plasticity learning rules.



In this Research Topic, we invite papers that highlight the diversity of plasticity, and welcome contributions at all levels from molecules to circuit dynamics and behavior. We welcome primary studies as well as reviews, experimental work as well as theory, opinion pieces as well as commentary.

Keywords: synaptic plasticity, neuromodulation, intrinsic excitability, inhibitory interneurons, plasticitome

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