Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 11 June 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5421, pp. 1755 - 1757
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5421.1755
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News Focus

NEUROBIOLOGY:
New Clues to How Neurons Strengthen Their Connections

Marcia Barinaga

New results point to the AMPA receptor for glutamate as playing a key role in the changes underlying long-term potentiation (LTP), a kind of synapse strengthening that may be involved in memory and learning. Neurobiologists had previously thought that the AMPA receptor is present at relatively unchanging levels in the vast majority of synapses on glutamate-sensitive neurons. Two teams, one of which reports in this issue of Science (p. 1811) and the other in the May issue of Nature Neuroscience, have now shown that AMPA receptors move into and out of synapses as synaptic connections strengthen and weaken, while on page 1805, a third team provides indirect evidence that the movements are needed for LTP to occur. Taken together, the results give strong evidence that the regulation of AMPA receptors is key to modulating synapse strength.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Synaptic Scaling Requires the GluR2 Subunit of the AMPA Receptor.
M. A. Gainey, J. R. Hurvitz-Wolff, M. E. Lambo, and G. G. Turrigiano (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 6479-6489
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II mediates NO-elicited PKG activation to participate in spinal reflex potentiation in anesthetized rats.
G.-D. Chen, M.-L. Peng, P.-Y. Wang, S.-D. Lee, H.-M. Chang, S.-F. Pan, M.-J. Chen, K.-C. Tung, C.-Y. Lai, and T.-B. Lin (2008)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 294, R487-R493
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase II Contributes to Activity-Dependent Filopodia Growth and Spine Formation.
P. Jourdain, K. Fukunaga, and D. Muller (2003)
J. Neurosci. 23, 10645-10649
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)