Silent period

Synaptic plasticity

Neuroscience

Biology

Monocular deprivation

Metaplasticity

Receptor

Sensory system

Postsynaptic potential

Stimulation

Biochemistry

Acoustics

Visual cortex

Ocular dominance

Physics

Sensory deprivation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

Glutamate receptor

Synapse

Glutamatergic

Period (music)

Neuroplasticity

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance During critical periods, cortical neural circuits are refined to optimize their functional properties. The prevailing notion is that the balance between excitation and inhibition determines the onset and closure of critical periods. Here, we show that postsynaptic density protein-95 (PSD-95)–dependent maturation of silent glutamatergic synapses onto principal neurons was sufficient to govern the duration of the critical period for ocular dominance plasticity (ODP) in the visual cortex of mice. Loss of PSD-95 before the onset of CPs resulted in lifelong ODP, loss after CP closure reinstated silent synapses, and ODP. Thus, PSD-95–dependent silent synapse maturation terminates the critical period of ODP, and in general, once silent synapses are consolidated in any neural circuit, critical periods may end.

Progressive maturation of silent synapses governs the duration of a critical period