A synaptic model of memory: long-term potentiation in the hippocampus

Nature. 1993 Jan 7;361(6407):31-9. doi: 10.1038/361031a0.

Abstract

Long-term potentiation of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus is the primary experimental model for investigating the synaptic basis of learning and memory in vertebrates. The best understood form of long-term potentiation is induced by the activation of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor complex. This subtype of glutamate receptor endows long-term potentiation with Hebbian characteristics, and allows electrical events at the postsynaptic membrane to be transduced into chemical signals which, in turn, are thought to activate both pre- and postsynaptic mechanisms to generate a persistent increase in synaptic strength.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Calcium / physiology
  • Electrophysiology
  • Evoked Potentials
  • Hippocampus / physiology*
  • Memory*
  • Models, Neurological*
  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / physiology
  • Signal Transduction
  • Synapses / physiology*

Substances

  • Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate
  • Calcium