Brain-derived neurotrophic factor regulates the maturation of layer 4 fast-spiking cells after the second postnatal week in the developing barrel cortex.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been reported to play a critical role in modulating plasticity in developing sensory cortices. In the visual cortex, maturation of neuronal circuits involving GABAergic neurons has been shown to trigger a critical period. To date, several classes of GABAergic neurons are known, each of which are thought to play distinct functions. Of these, parvalbumin (PV)-containing, fast-spiking (FS) cells are suggested to be involved in the initiation of the critical period. Here, we report that BDNF plays an essential role in the normal development of PV-FS cells during a plastic period in the barrel cortex. We found that characteristic electrophysiological properties of PV-FS cells, such as low spike adaptation ratio, reduced voltage sags in response to hyperpolarization, started to develop around the second postnatal week and attained adult level in several days. We also found that immunoreactivity against PV was also acquired after the similar developmental time course. Then, using BDNF-/- mice, we found that these electrophysiological as well as chemical properties were underdeveloped or did not appear at all. We conclude BDNF regulates the development of electrophysiological and immunohistochemical characteristics in PV-FS cells. Because BDNF is suggested to regulate the initiation of plasticity, our results strongly indicate that BDNF is involved in the regulation of the critical period by promoting the functional development of PV-FS GABAergic neurons.