NESC 2570 Lecture Notes - The Sharper Image, Pipette, Long-Term Potentiation
26 Nov 2012
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Document Summary
Synapses in the mammilian brain can be switched in their strength: partially dependent on the postsynaptic calcium levels in dendritic spines. Modest elevations switch on a synaptic depression mechanism: activation of calcium activated phosphatases, remove ampa receptors. High elevations switch on calcium activated protein kinases, increasing the number of ampa receptors found, and facilitate the firing of these synapses. Changes in the number of transmitter receptors in the postsynaptic membrane may make a difference if all the receptors were saturated with their transmitter. If they all were not, then changes in the number of receptors present may not have an effect on the synapse strength. Several labs have tried to isolate the actions of a single axon using optical recording. There are a number of probes that change their fluorescence intensity or colour depending on whether or not they have bound the molecule of interest (such as calcium)
