The organism's ability to adapt to the changing sensory environment is due in part to the ability of the nervous system to change with experience. Input and synapse specific Hebbian plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), are critical for sculpting the nervous system to wire its circuit in tune with the environment and for storing memories. However, thes...

introduction: it has been demonstrated that cholecystokinin sulfated octapeptide (cck-8s) can affect synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. because one of the major experimental models to understand the events happening in synaptic plasticity is to study the long-term potentiation (ltp), we decided to investigate the effect of concomitant administration of cck-8s and tetanic stimulation of s...

BACKGROUND Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been reported to improve various forms of learning in humans. Stimulation is often applied during training, producing lasting enhancements that are specific to the learned task. These learning effects are thought to be mediated by altered synaptic plasticity. However, the effects of DCS during the induction of endogenous synaptic pla...

It is generally believed that after memory consolidation, memory-encoding synaptic circuits are persistently modified and become less plastic. This, however, may hinder the remaining capacity of information storage in a given neural circuit. Here we consider the hypothesis that memory-encoding synaptic circuits still retain reversible plasticity even after memory consolidation. To test this, we...

Spatio-temporal configurations of distributed activity in the brain is thought to contribute to the coding of neuronal information and synaptic contacts between nerve cells could play a central role in the formation of privileged pathways of activity. Synaptic plasticity is not the exclusive mode of regulation of information processing in the brain, and persistent regulations of ionic conductan...

Synaptic plasticity, neuronal activity-dependent sustained alteration of the efficacy of synaptic transmission, underlies learning and memory. Activation of positive-feedback signaling pathways by an increase in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) has been implicated in synaptic plasticity. However, the mechanism that determines the [Ca(2+)](i) threshold for inducing synaptic plast...

The threshold for bidirectional modification of synaptic plasticity is known to be controlled by several factors, including the balance between protein phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, postsynaptic free Ca(2+) concentration and NMDA receptor (NMDAR) composition of GluN2 subunits. Pannexin 1 (Panx1), a member of the integral membrane protein family, has been shown to form non-selective cha...

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin acting at several levels in the brain. Additionally, BDNF was shown to be responsible for the survival, maintenance and growth of neurons. Also, BDNF plays an important role in synaptic plasticity and memory processes. In activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, BDNF enhances long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampus but blocks the...

Introduction: It has been demonstrated that cholecystokinin sulfated octapeptide (CCK-8s) can affect synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. Because one of the major experimental models to understand the events happening in synaptic plasticity is To Study the long-term potentiation (LTP), we decided to investigate the effect of concomitant administration of CCK-8s and tetanic stimulation of S...

Our brain has the capacity to analyze a visual scene in a split second, to learn how to play an instrument, and to remember events, faces and concepts. Neurons underlie all of these diverse functions. Neurons, cells within the brain that generate and transmit electrical activity, communicate with each other through chemical synapses. These synaptic connections dynamically change with experience...