Spontaneous ongoing synaptic activity is thought to play an instructive role in the maturation of the neuronal circuits. However the type of synaptic activity involved and how this activity is translated into structural and functional changes is not fully understood. Here we show that ongoing glutamatergic synaptic activity triggers a long-lasting potentiation of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) mediated synaptic activity (LLP GABA-A ) in the developing rat hippocampus. LLP GABA-A induction requires (i) the activation of AMPA receptors and L-type voltage-dependent calcium channels, (ii) the release of endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and (iii) the activation of postsynaptic tropomyosin-related kinase receptors B (TrkB). We found that spontaneous glutamatergic activity is required to maintain a high level of native BDNF in the newborn rat hippocampus and that application of exogenous BDNF induced LLP GABA-A in the absence of glutamatergic activity. These results suggest that ongoing glutamatergic synaptic activity plays a pivotal role in the functional maturation of hippocampal GABAergic synapses by means of a cascade involving BDNF release and downstream signalling through postsynaptic TrkB receptor activation.

The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has emerged as an important messenger for activity-dependent development of neuronal network. Recent findings have suggested that a significant proportion of BDNF can be secreted as a precursor (proBDNF) and cleaved by extracellular proteases to yield the mature form. While the actions of proBDNF on maturation and plasticity of excitatory synapses have been studied, the effect of the precursor on developing GABAergic synapses remains largely unknown. Here, we show that regulated secretion of proBDNF exerts a bidirectional control of GABAergic synaptic activity with NMDA receptors driving the polarity of the plasticity. When NMDA receptors are activated during ongoing synaptic activity, regulated Ca(2+)-dependent secretion of proBDNF signals via p75(NTR) to depress GABAergic synaptic activity, while in the absence of NMDA receptors activation, secreted proBDNF induces a p75(NTR)-dependent potentiation of GABAergic synaptic activity. These results revealed a new function for proBDNF-p75(NTR) signaling in synaptic plasticity and a novel mechanism by which synaptic activity can modulate the development of GABAergic synaptic connections.