Early detonation by sprouted mossy fibers enables aberrant dentate network activity

In temporal lobe epilepsy, sprouting of hippocampal mossy fiber axons onto dentate granule cell dendrites creates a recurrent excitatory network. However, unlike mossy fibers projecting to CA3, sprouted mossy fiber synapses depress upon repetitive activation. Thus, despite their proximal location, large presynaptic terminals, and ability to excite target neurons, the impact of sprouted mossy fiber synapses on hippocampal hyperexcitability is unclear. We find that despite their short-term depression, single episodes of sprouted mossy fiber activation in hippocampal slices initiated bursts of recurrent polysynaptic excitation. Consistent with a contribution to network hyperexcitability, optogenetic activation of sprouted mossy fibers reliably triggered action potential firing in postsynaptic dentate granule cells after single light pulses. This pattern resulted in a shift in network recruitment dynamics to an “early detonation” mode and an increased probability of release compared to mossy fiber synapses in CA3. A lack of tonic adenosine-mediated inhibition contributed to the higher probability of glutamate release thus facilitating reverberant circuit activity. Significance Statement Sprouted mossy fibers are one of the hallmark histopathological findings in temporal lobe epilepsy. These fibers form recurrent excitatory synapses onto other dentate granule cells that display profound short-term depression. Here, however, we show that although these sprouted mossy fibers weaken substantially during repetitive activation, their initial high probability of glutamate release can activate reverberant network activity. Furthermore, we find that a lack of tonic adenosine inhibition enables this high probability of release and, consequently, recurrent network activity.