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Long term potentiation and long term depression
erika
erika at ebi.ac.uk
Thu Mar 23 05:05:47 PST 2006
Dear all,
I am annotating ionotropic gluatamate receptor and I would like to
insert terms about long term potentiation (LTP) and long term
depression (LTD).
I know that there are these two terms that described two form of
synaptic plasticity.
GO:0048169 regulation of long-term neuronal synaptic plasticity: A
process that modulates long-term neuronal synaptic plasticity, the
ability of neuronal synapses to change long-term as circumstances
require. Long-term neuronal synaptic plasticity generally involves
increase or decrease in actual synapse numbers.
GO:0048172 regulation of short-term neuronal synaptic plasticity: A
process that modulates short-term neuronal synaptic plasticity, the
ability of neuronal synapses to change in the short-term as
circumstances require. Short-term neuronal synaptic plasticity
generally involves increasing or decreasing synaptic sensitivity.
So I can not understand if we should add new terms about LTP and LTD
or we could use GO:0048172 (regulation of short-term neuronal
synaptic plasticity) and GO:0048169 (regulation of long-term neuronal
synaptic plasticity) for LTP and for LTD
This is a new topic for me so any help will be appreciated.
I have read that LTD is a weakening of a synapse that lasts from
hours to days. So I am not sure that short term plasticity could be
the correct term for LTD because GO:0048172 (regulation of short-term
neuronal synaptic plasticity) describes changes in the short time.
LTD results from either strong synaptic stimulation (as occurs in the
cerebellum Purkinje cells) to persistent weak synaptic stimulation
(as in the hippocampus).
In addiction, LTD refers only to a weakening of a synapse and not to
an increasing of it.
LTD is thought to result from changes in postsynaptic receptor
density, although changes in presynaptic release may also play a
role. Slow, weak stimulation of CA1 neurons also brings about long-
term changes in the synapses, in this case, a reduction in the
sensitivity. It involves Glu binding to a different type of NMDA
receptor.
Instead, long-term potentiation (LTP) is the long-lasting
strengthening of the connection between two nerve cells.
Experimentally, a series of short, high-frequency electric
stimulations to a nerve cell synapse can strengthen, or potentiate,
that synapse for minutes to hours. In living cells, LTP occurs
naturally and can last from hours to days, months, and years. The
biological mechanisms of LTP, largely via the interplay of protein
kinases, phosphatases, and gene expression, give rise to synaptic
plasticity and provide the foundation for a highly adaptable nervous
system.
Researches in Geneva, Switzerland have demonstrated that formation of
LTP in rat brains coincides with the formation of additional synapses
(at least one more) between the presynaptic axon terminal and the
dendrite it synapses with. (Report by Toni, N., et al, Nature, 25 Nov
99). Presumably this, too, increases the efficiency of synaptic
transmission.
I am confused because both LTP and LTD refer to changes in the long
term.
So are they part of process of regulation of ONLY long term synaptic
plasticity regulation GO:0048169?
Thanks very much
Erika
Erika Feltrin, PhD student
Bioinformatics Lab-CRIBI
Padua University
erika at cribi.unipd.it
c/o EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus
Cambridge CB10 1SD
United Kingdom
erika at ebi.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1223 492600 (work)
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