Memory and Synaptic Plasticity (L6-8) Flashcards
Within which lobe of the brain are the hippocampus and the amygdala found?
The temporal lobe.
True or false?
Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by late amnestic (loss of memory) changes.
Hippocampus and entorhinal cortex being the first sites of pathological change.
False.
AD is characterized by early amnestic (loss of memory) changes.
What is the first sign of AD?
Memory loss.
List the signs of mild AD.
- Memory loss
- Confusion
- Trouble handling money
- Poor judgment
- Mood changes
- Increased anxiety
List the signs of moderate AD.
- Increased memory loss
- Confusion
- Problems recognizing people
- Difficulty with language
- Restlessness
- Agitation
- Wandering
- Repetitive statements
The brains of people with AD have an abundance of two abnormal structures.
Name and describe them.
Beta-amyloid plaques - dense deposits of protein and cellular material that accumulate outside and around nerve cells
Neurofibrillary tangles - twisted fibres that build up inside the nerve cell
Describe how beta-amyloid plaques form.
- Amyloid precursor protein (APP) sticks through the neuron membrane.
- Enzymes cut the APP into fragments of protein, including beta-amyloid.
- Beta-amyloid fragments come together in clumps to form plaques.
Describe how neurofibrillary tangles form.
Neurons have an internal support structure partly made up of microtubules. A protein called tau helps stabilize microtubules. In AD, tau changes, causing microtubules to collapse, and tau proteins clump together to form neurofibrillary tangles.
What comes under Declarative memory?
Which part of the brain is critical for this?
- Explicit memory
- Facts, dates, events
- Hippocampus
What comes under Procedural memory?
Which part of the brain is critical for this?
- Non-declarative/implicit
- How to perform an action
- Basal ganglia
Patients with Alzheimer’s disease are unable to learn or remember ordinary facts (___1___ memory) but are normal or nearly normal at learning and remembering how to do things (___2___ memory).
- Declarative
2. Procedural
Define Synaptic plasticity.
The property of a neuron or synapse to change its internal parameters in response to its history.
_____ receptor blockade impairs spatial memory.
NMDA.
Define Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)
An activity dependent increase in synaptic strength that persists for 30 minutes or more.
Recite Hebb’s postulate.
“When axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B repeatedly or consistently take place in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.”
