Dopamine D1/5 receptor-mediated long-term potentiation of intrinsic excitability in rat prefrontal cortical neurons: Ca2+-dependent intracellular signaling.

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) dopamine D1/5 receptors modulate long- and short-term neuronal plasticity that may contribute to cognitive functions. Synergistic to synaptic strength modulation, direct postsynaptic D1/5 receptor activation also modulates voltage-dependent ionic currents that regulate spike firing, thus altering the neuronal input-output relationships in a process called long-term potentiation of intrinsic excitability (LTP-IE). Here, the intracellular signals that mediate this D1/5 receptor-dependent LTP-IE were determined using whole cell current-clamp recordings in layer V/VI rat pyramidal neurons from PFC slices.