Long Term Potentiation (LTP) Flashcards
What is procedural memory?
Information acquired and retrieved unconsciously, including motor and cognitive skills and classical conditioning
What is episodic memory?
Snapshots of life events. Conscious
What is semantic memory?
- Words and their meanings, people, faces, objects, concepts - all filed into discrete categories.
- Conscious
When does synaptic plasticity occur?
Development, learning and memory, ageing, response to trauma/disease
Which pathways are LTP specific to?
- LTP is specific to the tetanised pathways.
- Non-tetanized inputs, even convergent on the same dendritic region are not poteniated
Explain what cooperativity means in terms of LTP
LTP exhibits an intensity threshold whereby a weak stimulus is unable to induce LTP whereas a strong stimulus can
Explain what associativity means in terms of LTP
- A weak input will potentiate provided a strong convergent input is activated at the same time.
- This feature has been equated with classical conditioning, with the weak and strong inputs corresponding to the conditioned and non-conditioned stimuli respectively
How many stages does LTP have and what are these?
4 stages - post-titanic potentiation, early LTP, intermediate LTP, late LTP
What is the key regulator of NMDA receptor activation?
Calcium
In all models of LTP there are 3 distinct temporal phases, what are these?
- Dependent on post-translational modification of existing proteins i.e. phosphorylation
- Dependent on synthesis of new protein from existing mRNA i.e. mRNA translation
- Dependent on synthesis of new protein and new mRNA i.e. gene transcription
Describe phase I of LTP
- Inhibition of a variety of kinases inhibits the early phase of LTP - PKA, PKC, ERK, CamKII, PYK2 etc.
- This implies there are multiple parallel pathways, all of them essential for the full expression of the plasticity response
Calcium dependent kinases are involved in LTD and phosphatases are involved in LTP. T/F?
False - calcium dependent kinases are involved in LTP and phosphatases are involved in LTD
How can early phase synaptic plasticity be maintained?
Phosphorylation of receptors and receptor trafficking
What effect does phosphorylation of GluA1 at s831 and s845 have?
Both increase conductance (in different ways) and effect receptor trafficking
Describe LTP in terms of activity, calcium level, conductance and AMPA receptor number
- Fast, strong activity
- High calcium
- Increased conductance
- Increased AMPAR number