脊髓长时程增强与疼痛及其机制的研究新进展

长时程增强（long-term potentiation,LTP）是通过短暂的高频强直刺激诱发突触传递效能的持久性增大,广泛存在于中枢神经系统,最先是在海马上发现的,被认为是学习和记忆的神经基础。除海马外,目前对脊髓LTP的研究也较多,多集中在脊髓背角感觉神经元。脊髓背角LTP现已被认为是一种＂痛记忆＂,是长期慢性疼痛、痛觉记忆、痛觉过敏的神经基础。     

PTPa基因敲除对小鼠海马CA1区突触可塑性的影响

通过PTPa基因敲除(knock out)小鼠来研究海马突触可塑性的变化,在海马schaffer collateral-CA1通路中采用场电位记录的方法研究发现,与Wild Type相比较,基因敲除小鼠的Long Term Potentiation(LTP)增强而Long Term Depression(LTD)受到抑制,去增强效应消失,θ频率诱导的LTP增强,但是其基本的突触传递性质并没有发生变化.     

PTPα基因敲除对小鼠海马CA1区突触可塑性的影响

通过PTPα基因敲除（knockout）小鼠来研究海马突触可塑性的变化，在海马schaffer collateral—CA1通路中采用场电位记录的方法研究发现，与Wild Type相比较，基因敲除小鼠的Long Term Potentiation（LTP）增强而Long Term Depression（LTD）受到抑制，去增强效应消失。θ频率诱导的LTP增强，但是其基本的突触传递性质并没有发生变化．     

谷氨酸能神经传递系统研究进展

谷氨酸广布于大脑皮质等处,以(-酮戊二酸、谷氨酰胺或鸟氨酸等为前体进行合成,通过快突触传递或慢突触传递与突触后膜上的三种类型的受体相结合,参与学习记忆、突触可塑性、细胞凋亡、自主运动神经活动及神经毒性作用等生理和病理功能.     

谷氨酸能神经传递系统研究进展

谷氨酸广布于大脑皮质等处,以(-酮戊二酸、谷氨酰胺或鸟氨酸等为前体进行合成,通过快突触传递或慢突触传递与突触后膜上的三种类型的受体相结合,参与学习记忆、突触可塑性、细胞凋亡、自主运动神经活动及神经毒性作用等生理和病理功能。     

离子型谷氨酸受体对海马突触传递长时程增强的影响

海马是完成学习与记忆活动的神经基础,海马部位突触可塑性增强与学习记忆有着密不可分的关系,而这种可塑性的增强主要是以谷氨酸为神经递质的,因此本文就有关海马部位突触可塑性增强与离子型谷氨酸受体的联系进行了阐述．     

忆阻器类脑神经突触的研究进展

大脑之所以能够控制人和动物的复杂生命活动，使生物体在多变的自然环境得以生存，得益于大规模神经网络中高效、快速、精准的信息传递。神经突触作为神经元之间信息传递的重要机构，保证了神经网络的高效运转，因此构建具有神经突触功能的电子突触是研究仿生系统和类脑神经网络的必经之路。研究人员尝试各种电子元件对神经突触进行模拟，其中忆阻器由于其独特的器件结构和具有“记忆特性”的电学性能，成为构建类脑神经突触的最佳选择。文章全面概述近年来忆阻器模拟神经突触的研究进展，包括忆阻器模拟神经突触的可塑性、再可塑性、非联想学习、联想学习等功能，总结了忆阻器神经突触在人工神经网络中的应用、存在的问题和挑战，并对忆阻器神经突触的研究进行展望。     

钙离子对学习记忆的影响

Ca^2 作为神经信号传递的重要信使，参与学习记忆的神经机制。突触前和突触后细胞内钙离子在长时程突触的可塑性中发挥重要的信息传递作用。研究表明衰老性记忆障碍与中枢神经系统的Ca^2 稳态调节失衡有关。神经细胞内游离钙水平[Ca^2 ]i受多种机制的调节，主要包括Ca^2 的跨膜转运、细胞内钙池摄取与释放Ca^2 等过程；最近的研究表明神经胶质细胞也参与其调节。     

AMPA受体转运的调节与突触可塑性之间关系的研究进展

<正>AMPA受体介导大脑中绝大多数快兴奋性突触传递。突触可塑性即神经元突触效能的动态变化被认为是学习和记忆中信息编码和储存的基础。其中一个最重要的机制认为突触强度的调节与AMPA受体在突触中的转运调节密切相关。AMPA受体的生命周期包括生物合成、跨膜转运以及突触靶向性降解,都是受细胞内众多的细胞内调节蛋白     

记忆研究方向的新探讨

本文介绍了神经心理学有关学习记忆的研究进展，认为突触可塑性（尤其是ＬＴＰ）与蛋白质分子作用结合起来是学习记忆的重要研究方向。     

Presynaptic induction of heterosynaptic associative plasticity in the mammalian brain

The induction of associative synaptic plasticity in the mammalian central nervous system classically depends on coincident presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. According to this principle, associative homosynaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) of excitatory synaptic transmission can be induced only if synaptic release occurs during postsynaptic depolarization. In contrast, heterosynaptic plasticity in mammals is considered to rely on activity-independent, non-associative processes. Here we describe a novel mechanism underlying the induction of associative LTP in the lateral amygdala (LA). Simultaneous activation of converging cortical and thalamic afferents specifically induced associative, N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor-dependent LTP at cortical, but not at thalamic, inputs. Surprisingly, the induction of associative LTP at cortical inputs was completely independent of postsynaptic activity, including depolarization, postsynaptic NMDA receptor activation or an increase in postsynaptic Ca2+ concentration, and did not require network activity. LTP expression was mediated by a persistent increase in the presynaptic probability of release at cortical afferents. Our study shows the presynaptic induction and expression of heterosynaptic and associative synaptic plasticity on simultaneous activity of converging afferents. Our data indicate that input specificity of associative LTP can be determined exclusively by presynaptic properties.     

Locally dynamic synaptic learning rules in pyramidal neuron dendrites

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission underlies aspects of learning and memory. LTP is input-specific at the level of individual synapses, but neural network models predict interactions between plasticity at nearby synapses. Here we show in mouse hippocampal pyramidal cells that LTP at individual synapses reduces the threshold for potentiation at neighbouring synapses. After input-specific LTP induction by two-photon glutamate uncaging or by synaptic stimulation, subthreshold stimuli, which by themselves were too weak to trigger LTP, caused robust LTP and spine enlargement at neighbouring spines. Furthermore, LTP induction broadened the presynaptic-postsynaptic spike interval for spike-timing-dependent LTP within a dendritic neighbourhood. The reduction in the threshold for LTP induction lasted approximately 10 min and spread over approximately 10 microm of dendrite. These local interactions between neighbouring synapses support clustered plasticity models of memory storage and could allow for the binding of behaviourally linked information on the same dendritic branch.     

Long-term potentiation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in the hippocampus.

Neurotransmission at most excitatory synapses in the brain operates through two types of glutamate receptor termed alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionate (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors; these mediate the fast and slow components of excitatory postsynaptic potentials respectively. Activation of NMDA receptors can also lead to a long-lasting modification in synaptic efficiency at glutamatergic synapses; this is exemplified in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, where NMDA receptors mediate the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). It is believed that in this region LTP is maintained by a specific increase in the AMPA receptor-mediated component of synaptic transmission. We now report, however, that a pharmacologically isolated NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic response can undergo robust, synapse-specific LTP. This finding has implications for neuropathologies such as epilepsy and neurodegeneration, in which excessive NMDA receptor activation has been implicated. It adds fundamentally to theories of synaptic plasticity because NMDA receptor activation may, in addition to causing increased synaptic efficiency, directly alter the plasticity of synapses.     

NMDA application potentiates synaptic transmission in the hippocampus

The NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) class of glutamate receptor plays a critical role in a variety of forms of synaptic plasticity in the vertebrate central nervous system. One extensively studied example of plasticity is long-term potentiation (LTP), a remarkably long-lasting enhancement of synaptic efficiency induced in the hippocampus by brief, high-frequency stimulation of excitatory synapses. LTP is a strong candidate for a cellular mechanism of learning and memory. The site of LTP induction appears to be the postsynaptic cell and induction requires both activation of NMDA receptors by synaptically released glutamate and depolarization of the postsynaptic membrane. It is proposed that this depolarization relieves a voltage-dependent Mg2+ block of the NMDA receptor channel, resulting in increased calcium influx which is the trigger for the induction of LTP. This model predicts that application of a large depolarizing dose of NMDA should be sufficient to evoke LTP. In agreement with a previous study, we have found that NMDA or glutamate application does potentiate synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. This agonist-induced potentiation is, however, decremental and short-lived, unlike LTP. It is occluded shortly after the induction of LTP and a similar short-term potentiation can be evoked by synaptically released glutamate. We thus propose that LTP has two components, a short-term, decremental component which can be mimicked by NMDA receptor activation, and a long-lasting, non-decremental component which, in addition to requiring activation of NMDA receptors, requires stimulation of presynaptic afferents.     

Repeated cocaine exposure in vivo facilitates LTP induction in midbrain dopamine neurons

Drugs of abuse are known to cause persistent modification of neural circuits, leading to addictive behaviours. Changes in synaptic plasticity in dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) may contribute to circuit modification induced by many drugs of abuse, including cocaine. Here we report that, following repeated exposure to cocaine in vivo, excitatory synapses to rat VTA dopamine neurons become highly susceptible to the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) by correlated pre- and postsynaptic activity. This facilitated LTP induction is caused by cocaine-induced reduction of GABA(A) (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptor-mediated inhibition of these dopamine neurons. In midbrain slices from rats treated with saline or a single dose of cocaine, LTP could not be induced in VTA dopamine neurons unless GABA-mediated inhibition was reduced by bicuculline or picrotoxin. However, LTP became readily inducible in slices from rats treated repeatedly with cocaine; this LTP induction was prevented by enhancing GABA-mediated inhibition using diazepam. Furthermore, repeated cocaine exposure reduced the amplitude of GABA-mediated synaptic currents and increased the probability of spike initiation in VTA dopamine neurons. This cocaine-induced enhancement of synaptic plasticity in the VTA may be important for the formation of drug-associated memory.     

Persistent protein kinase activity underlying long-term potentiation

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission in the hippocampus is a much-studied example of synaptic plasticity. Although the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the induction of LTP is well established, the nature of the persistent signal underlying this synaptic enhancement is unclear. Involvement of protein phosphorylation in LTP has been widely proposed, with protein kinase C (PKC) and calcium-calmodulin kinase type II (CaMKII) as leading candidates. Here we test whether the persistent signal in LTP is an enduring phosphoester bond, a long-lived kinase activator, or a constitutively active protein kinase by using H-7, which inhibits activated protein kinases and sphingosine, which competes with activators of PKC (ref. 17) and CaMKII (ref. 18). H-7 suppressed established LTP, indicating that the synaptic potentiation is sustained by persistent protein kinase activity rather than a stably phosphorylated substrate. In contrast, sphingosine did not inhibit established LTP, although it was effective when applied before tetanic stimulation. This suggests that persistent kinase activity is not maintained by a long-lived activator, but is effectively constitutive. Surprisingly, the H-7 block of LTP was reversible; evidently, the kinase directly underlying LTP remains activated even though its catalytic activity is interrupted indicating that such kinase activity does not sustain itself simply through continual autophosphorylation (see refs 9, 13, 15).     

Long-term potentiation is associated with increases in quantal content and quantal amplitude.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission in CA1 neurons of the hippocampus, elicited by the conjunction of presynaptic firing and postsynaptic depolarization, is an important model of plasticity, which may underlie memory storage. Although induction of LTP takes place in the postsynaptic cell, it is not clear whether it is expressed through an enhancement of transmitter release or through an increased postsynaptic response to the same amount of transmitter. Analysis of the trial-to-trial amplitude fluctuations of synaptic signals, that is quantal analysis, gives an important insight into the probabilistic mechanisms of transmission, although attempts to apply it to the mode of expression of LTP have so far yielded inconsistent results, at least in part because they have relied on models of transmitter release that have not been confirmed experimentally. Here we report clear evidence for quantal fluctuation in a subset of cells. Induction of LTP in these cells causes abrupt increases in either quantal content or quantal amplitude, or both. This shows that two different mechanisms can underlie the maintenance of LTP.     

Calcium stores regulate the polarity and input specificity of synaptic modification

Activity-induced synaptic modification is essential for the development and plasticity of the nervous system. Repetitive correlated activation of pre- and postsynaptic neurons can induce persistent enhancement or decrement of synaptic efficacy, commonly referred to as long-term potentiation or depression (LTP or LTD). An important unresolved issue is whether and to what extent LTP and LTD are restricted to the activated synapses. Here we show that, in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, reduction of postsynaptic calcium influx by partial blockade of NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors results in a conversion of LTP to LTD and a loss of input specificity normally associated with LTP, with LTD appearing at heterosynaptic inputs. The induction of LTD at homo- and heterosynaptic sites requires functional ryanodine receptors and inositol triphosphate (InsP3) receptors, respectively. Functional blockade or genetic deletion of type 1 InsP3 receptors led to a conversion of LTD to LTP and elimination of heterosynaptic LTD, whereas blocking ryanodine receptors eliminated only homosynaptic LTD. Thus, postsynaptic Ca2+, deriving from Ca2+ influx and differential release of Ca2+ from internal stores through ryanodine and InsP3 receptors, regulates both the polarity and input specificity of activity-induced synaptic modification.     

Direct cortical input modulates plasticity and spiking in CA1 pyramidal neurons

The hippocampus is necessary for the acquisition and retrieval of declarative memories. The best-characterized sensory input to the hippocampus is the perforant path projection from layer II of entorhinal cortex (EC) to the dentate gyrus. Signals are then processed sequentially in the hippocampal CA fields before returning to the cortex via CA1 pyramidal neuron spikes. There is another EC input-the temporoammonic (TA) pathway-consisting of axons from layer III EC neurons that make synaptic contacts on the distal dendrites of CA1 neurons. Here we show that this pathway modulates both the plasticity and the output of the rat hippocampal formation. Bursts of TA activity can, depending on their timing, either increase or decrease the probability of Schaffer-collateral (SC)-evoked CA1 spikes. TA bursts can also significantly reduce the magnitude of synaptic potentiation at SC-CA1 synapses. The TA-CA1 synapse itself exhibits both long-term depression (LTD) and long-term potentiation (LTP). This capacity for bi-directional plasticity can, in turn, regulate the TA modulation of CA1 activity: LTP or LTD of the TA pathway either enhances or diminishes the gating of CA1 spikes and plasticity inhibition, respectively.