Thu 23 Oct, 2008
Long term potentiation - two reviews
Filed under: Molecular & Cellular NeurosciencePosted by andrew
(1)
Nature, 14 Sept 1995, Nicoll and Malenka
* activity dependent enhancement of synaptic transmission: LTP
* LTP is observed at many different synapses and many different forms of LTP exist
* mossy fiber LTP and NMDA-dependent LTP are not the same
* different expression mechanisms for different types of LTP
* NMDAR dependent LTP seems to be purely postsynaptic, perhaps with a retrograde messenger.
(2)
Nature, 7 Jan 1993, Bliss and Collingridge
* LTP in the hippocampus: best understood experimental model for looking at learning and memory
* lots of progress made in understanding molecular mechanisms of LTP
* LTP properties: cooperativity, associativity, input-specificity
* cooperativity: intensity threshold for induction
* associativity: weak input can be potentiated if a nearby synapse is potentiated with a strong input
* input specificity: other inputs that are not active don’t potentiate, so specifically the ones that are tetanized are potentiated
* we need to find a mechnistic description of LTP induction requirements. NMDARs are widely thought to be the coincidence detector for presynaptic and postsynaptic activity and critical for expression of LTP.