Question 1. Long-term potentiation (LTP) has several important properties a. One

Question

Question 1. Long-term potentiation (LTP) has several important properties a. One important property of LTP is specificity. Describe an experiment focusing on the CA3 to CA1 synapse of the hippocampus that demonstrates this property. Make sure to explain what are you measuring, at what times, etc. (Suggested: 3 sentences) b. Another important property of LTP is coincidence detection: strong presynaptic and postsynaptic activity must occur at the same time to induce LTP. Describe an experiment focusing on the CA3 to CA1 synapse of the hippocampus that demonstrates this property. Make sure to explain what are you measuring, at what times, etc. (Suggested: 3-4 sentences)

Explanation / Answer

Work on long term potentiation began in the early 1970s, when Timothy and his colleagues at Mill Hill in England discovered that a few seconds of high frequency electrical stimulation can enhance synaptic transmission in the rabbit hippocampus for days or even weeks. The arrangement of neurons allow the hippocampus to be sectioned such that most of the circuitry is left intact. In such preparations , the cell bodies of the pyramidal neurons lie in a single dense packed layer. This layer is divided into several regions- major ones being CA1 and CA3, CA refers to Cornu Ammon, the ram horn that resembles the shape of the hippocampus.

The dendrites of the pyramidal cells in the CA1 region form a thick band (the stratum radiatum) , where they recieve synapses from schaffer collaterals , the axons of pyramidal cells in the CA3 region.

LTP exhibits the property of input specificity, is an important characteristic of Hebbian LTP. When LTP is induced by the stimulation of one synapse , it does not occur in other, inactive synapses that contact the same neuron. Thus, LTP is input specific in the sense that it is restricted to activated synapses rather than to all of the synapses on agiven cell.This feature is consistent with its involvement in memory formation.

coincidence detection

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