Paper available: Cooperative LTP can map memory sequences on dendritic branches

[Mayank R. Mehta]

The following paper is available at 

http://neuroscience.brown.edu/mehta/HOME.html 

Title: Cooperative LTP can map memory sequences on dendritic branches

Abstract: Hebbian synaptic learning requires co-activation of
presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. However, under some conditions,
information regarding the postsynaptic action potential, carried by
backpropagating action potentials, can be strongly degraded before it
reaches the distal dendritic synapse. Can these synapses still exhibit
Hebbian long-term potentiation (LTP)? Recent results show that LTP can
indeed occur at synapses on distal dendrites of hippocampal CA1
neurons, even in the absence of a postsynaptic somatic spike. Instead,
local dendritic spikes contribute to the depolarization required to
induce LTP. Here, a dendritically constrained synaptic learning rule
is proposed, which suggests that nearby synapses can encode temporally
contiguous events.


-Mayank

Mayank R. Mehta
Assistant Professor
Department of Neuroscience
Brown University
PO Box 1953
190 Thayer Street
Providence, RI 02912-1953

Phone: 401 863 9727              
Fax: 401 863 1074

email: Mayank_Mehta at brown.edu
URL: http://neuroscience.brown.edu/mehta.html