Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Plasticity Underlying Long-Term Memory Formation

Excerpt

Learning a new behavior and acquiring information from the environment require that specific patterns of neural activity induced by experience are maintained through plasticity in specific neural networks. The persistence of the acquired information depends on how long the plastic changes are preserved. It is believed that persistent forms of synaptic plasticity, including structural synaptic plasticity among others, occur in specific neuronal ensembles, in order to maintain the information in long-term memory.

Neural activity leads to a series of molecular events such as the activation of certain neurotransmitter and kinase systems, Ca2+ influx, induction of gene expression, translation and regulation of proteins, and many others that are essential to establish the plastic changes underlying long-term memory. In this chapter I will review some of the molecular events that are relevant for the persistent forms of synaptic plasticity.