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Long-term Potentiation

Long-term Potentiation

Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTP is the process of synaptic strengthening that occurs over time between pre and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic strengthening of LTP works in opposition to the synaptic weakening of long-term depression (LTD) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.
Hebbian LTP
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Long-term Potentiation

Long-term Potentiation

Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTP is the process of synaptic strengthening that occurs over time between pre- and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic strengthening of LTP works in opposition to the synaptic weakening of long-term depression (LTD) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory

Memory is one of the most vital higher mental functions of the brain. Memory is closely related to learning because it enables us to retain information and experiences from our past to use them in our present life. It also helps us to remember facts, events, and skills, such as riding a bike or swimming. There are two types of memory — declarative memory, which involves memorizing facts or events, and procedural memory, which enables us to remember how to do something like writing or playing an...

Long-term Depression

Long-term Depression

Long-term depression, or LTD, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTD is the process of synaptic weakening that occurs over time between pre and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic weakening of LTD works in opposition to synaptic strengthening by long-term potentiation (LTP) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.
Calcium Ion Concentration Mechanism
If over time, all...

Long-term Depression

Long-term Depression

Long-term depression, or LTD, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTD is the process of synaptic weakening that occurs over time between pre and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic weakening of LTD works in opposition to synaptic strengthening by long-term potentiation (LTP) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.

Associative Learning

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 23, 2026

Long-term Potentiation of Perforant Pathway-dentate Gyrus Synapse in Freely Behaving Mice

Long-term Potentiation of Perforant Pathway-dentate Gyrus Synapse in Freely Behaving Mice

Published on: November 29, 2013

Capacity-enhancing synaptic learning rules in a medial temporal lobe online learning model.

Xundong E Wu¹, Bartlett W Mel

¹Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA. wuxundong@gmail.com

|April 21, 2009

Summary

This study reveals how the brain efficiently stores autobiographical memories using specific rules for synaptic plasticity. Optimized long-term potentiation (LTP) and homeostatic depression (HD) dramatically increase memory capacity.

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Last Updated: Jun 23, 2026

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Published on: November 29, 2013

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Published on: June 30, 2020

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Memory Formation

Background:

Medial temporal lobe structures are crucial for autobiographical memory.
These brain regions can form lasting memories from brief neural activity patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

To identify biologically plausible learning rules for maximizing memory capacity in the hippocampus.
To investigate the roles of dendritic spikes, long-term potentiation (LTP), and homeostatic depression (HD) in memory storage.

Main Methods:

Developed a computational model of the hippocampal Schaffer collateral pathway.
Incorporated dendritic spikes in CA1 pyramidal neurons.
Simulated and analyzed various long-term potentiation (LTP) and homeostatic depression (HD) rules.

Main Results:

Optimal memory storage requires minimal synapse modification per pattern.
Dendrite-specific LTP, gated by thresholds, and co-occurring HD targeting less-recent potentiated synapses are most effective.
All-or-none LTP and HD result in binary synaptic weights.
This learning scheme increased network memory capacity by orders of magnitude.

Conclusions:

A novel learning scheme enhances memory capacity significantly compared to conventional rules.
Efficient memory encoding relies on specific, all-or-none synaptic plasticity mechanisms.
The findings provide insights into the computational principles of memory in the medial temporal lobe.