長期増強(LTP)をめぐる最近の話題

Particular interest of long term potentiation (LTP) is whether LTP is expressed in a pre-or postsynaptic site. The quantal analysis shows that there are three types of LTP, that is, presynaptic type, postsynaptic type, and the type which involves changes in both sites. On the other hand, it has been shown that several different receptors participate in induction of LTP, including voltage dependent Ca++ channel as well as NMDA receptor. These recent studies suggest that there are wide synaptic heterogeneity concerning LTP induction and expression.