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Long-Term Potentiation

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Neuroscience in the 21st Century

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Abstract

At many glutamatergic synapses in the brain, brief episodes of strong synaptic activity can lead to an enduring enhancement of synaptic strength, a property known as long-term potentiation (LTP). This chapter presents a concise overview of the cellular mechanisms responsible for LTP and of the role of LTP in learning and memory. Glutamate receptors of the NMDA subtype control the induction of LTP at many synapses, and both presynaptic and postsynaptic changes are involved in its maintenance. Recent studies employing optogenetic techniques have thrown light on how long-term synaptic changes are exploited to encode memories at the network level.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neurophysiology, The Francis Crick Institute, Mill Hill, London, NW7 1AA, UK

    Tim Bliss

Authors
  1. Tim Bliss
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Correspondence to Tim Bliss .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurobiology and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

    Donald W. Pfaff

  2. National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD, USA

    Nora D. Volkow

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    John L. Rubenstein

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Bliss, T. (2022). Long-Term Potentiation. In: Pfaff, D.W., Volkow, N.D., Rubenstein, J.L. (eds) Neuroscience in the 21st Century. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-88832-9_143

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