GABAergic interneurons in synaptic plasticity and information storage

The flow of information in the CA1 region is strongly modulated by the action of the nonpyramidal neurons, most of which are inhibitory interneurons whose axons target different domains of the pyramidal cell dendritic tree. This chapter considers specific forms of synaptic plasticity of excitatory input onto interneuron populations and reviews the synaptic plasticity of GABAergic output generated by interneurons on their target cells. No single general principal accounts for either the plasticity of excitatory synaptic transmission onto interneurons, or the plasticity of their GABAergic inhibitory output. Interneurons receive input often from a wide array of afferent fibers as well as making their output onto a wide array of diverse cellular targets.