State-dependent mechanisms of LTP expression revealed by optical quantal analysis
Bonnie Ward1, Lindsay McGuinness, Colin J Akerman
1Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3QT, United Kingdom.
Neuron
|November 23, 2006
Abstract:
The expression mechanism of long-term potentiation (LTP) remains controversial. Here we combine electrophysiology and Ca(2+) imaging to examine the role of silent synapses in LTP expression. Induction of LTP fails to change p(r) at these synapses but instead mediates an unmasking process that is sensitive to the inhibition of postsynaptic membrane fusion. Once unmasked, however, further potentiation of formerly silent synapses leads to an increase in p(r). The state of the synapse thus determines how LTP is expressed.
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