A rapamycin-sensitive signaling pathway contributes to long-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus

Tang SJ, Reis G, Kang H, Gingras AC, Sonenberg N, Schuman EM · 2002 · PNAS · Atlas ID TAN2002

What this study shows

The authors showed that mTOR, 4E-BP1, 4E-BP2 and eIF4E are present in rat hippocampus and sit in dendrites, close to synapses, where their staining overlapped with the postsynaptic protein PSD-95. Blocking mTOR with rapamycin in hippocampal slices reduced late-phase long-term potentiation (LTP) after high-frequency stimulation, while early-phase LTP was unaffected. Rapamycin also blocked the synaptic potentiation induced by the growth factor BDNF. This was one of the early papers to tie a rapamycin-sensitive pathway to the protein-synthesis-dependent phase of synaptic plasticity and to suggest it controls local translation at synapses. Boundary: rodent brain slices and cultured neurons; mTOR targets were localised but their phosphorylation during LTP was not reported in the abstract; no behaviour or memory test.

Abstract

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Many forms of long-lasting behavioral and synaptic plasticity require the synthesis of new proteins. For example, long-term potentiation (LTP) that endures for more than an hour requires both transcription and translation. The signal-transduction mechanisms that couple synaptic events to protein translational machinery during long-lasting synaptic plasticity, however, are not well understood.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type	M Molecular — cells, biochemistry, structure Marked M because it is molecular or in-vitro work (model: Rat and mouse hippocampal slices (field recordings, immunostaining); cultured rat hippocampal neurons; Western blot of rat hippocampus) rather than a whole-organism health-outcome study. That is often exactly where causal biology gets established -- the code says which system the finding was shown in, and nothing about how good the work is.
Study type	5 - Mechanistic / In Vitro
Model system	Rat and mouse hippocampal slices (field recordings, immunostaining); cultured rat hippocampal neurons; Western blot of rat hippocampus
Journal	PNAS
Year	2002
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1073/pnas.012605299 · PMID 11756682 · Free full text (PMC117583)

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Rapamycin (bath application to hippocampal slices)
Target	mTOR
Model	Rat; mouse (hippocampal slices and cultured neurons)
Effect	Rapamycin reduced late-phase LTP and blocked BDNF-induced potentiation; early LTP unchanged

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Tang, S. J., Reis, G., Kang, H., Gingras, A. C., Sonenberg, N., & Schuman, E. M. (2002). A rapamycin-sensitive signaling pathway contributes to long-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.012605299

@article{TAN2002,
  author       = {Tang, S. J. and Reis, G. and Kang, H. and Gingras, A. C. and Sonenberg, N. and Schuman, E. M.},
  title        = {{A rapamycin-sensitive signaling pathway contributes to long-term synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus}},
  journal      = {PNAS},
  year         = {2002},
  doi          = {10.1073/pnas.012605299},
  note         = {PMID: 11756682},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record TAN2002) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/TAN2002/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_TAN2002,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record TAN2002},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/TAN2002/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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