Enhancement of short-term synaptic plasticity by prior environmental stress

All chemical synapses can rapidly up- or down-regulate the strength of their connections to reshape the postsynaptic signal, thereby stressing the informational importance of specific neural pathways. It is also true that an organism's environment can exert a powerful influence on all aspects of neural circuitry. We investigated the effect of a prior high-temperature stress on the short-term plasticity of a neuromuscular synapse in the hindleg tibial extensor muscle of Locusta migratoria. We found that the prior stress acted to precondition the synapse by increasing the upper temperature limit for synaptic transmission during a subsequent stressful exposure. As well, preexposure to a stressful high-temperature environment increased short-term facilitation of excitatory junction potentials concurrent with a decrease in excitatory junction potential amplitude and a reduction in its temporal parameters. We conclude that a stressful environment can modify synaptic physiological properties resulting in an enhancement of short-term plasticity of the synapse.