Fig. 4

Impaired synaptic plasticity in lateral amygdala of St8sia2−/− mice is normalized by d-cycloserine (DCS). a Experimental scheme for LTP induction at LA cortical synapses in acute slices. b, c Tetanic stimulation paired with postsynaptic depolarizations induced robust Hebbian LTP at cortical inputs in wild-type (WT) mice, but failed to elicit persistent potentiation in St8sia2−/− (KO) mice. Arrows indicate tetanic stimulation. Top, mean excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) during baseline and after induction. Significant level of LTP was assessed by comparing absolute EPSP slope values in the time window indicated by the horizontal bars with baseline values. d Effect of acute application of DCS (40 µM) on NMDAR currents in WT and St8sia2−/− mice (Mann–Whitney test between genotypes, U = 14, p = 0.9). Representative NMDAR currents are shown at the top (color-coded). e, f Effect of DCS on LTP induction in WT and St8sia2−/− mice. Solid lines reproduce data series from b and c, for comparison. Notably, DCS restored sustained potentiation in KO animals (Mann–Whitney test KO vs. KO + DCS, U = 11, p < 0.05, indicated by the shaded area in f). Results are given as mean ± SEM. ^$p < 0.1; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01