Synaptic Plasticity

Question 1

Declarative(explicit) memory is the memory of …..

Answer 1

Fact and events
Or semantic and episodic memory
The brain area associated with this is the medial temporal lobe and diencephalon

Question 2

Name the types of non-declarative (implicit) memory and the regions associated with them

Answer 2

Procedural (skills and habits) - striatum
Priming - neocortex
Simple classical conditioning - emotional responses - amygdala and skeletal musculature - cerebellum
Non-associative learning - reflex pathway

Question 3

Hebb’s law

Answer 3

When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B or repeatedly or consistently takes part in firing it, some growth or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.

Question 4

What did Lomo and Bliss do in 1973?

Answer 4

Stimulated the Perforant path fibers to the dentate area of the hippocampus and with extracellular micro-electrodes measured the response in the granule cells. This was the first recording of synaptic plasticity.

Question 5

What did Manahan-Vaughan do and discover?

Answer 5

She used low frequency tetanus and stimulated cells for 15mins at 1Hz. Instead of potentiation she observed long-lasting reduction (LDP)

Question 6

What is synaptic plasticity?

Answer 6

Activity-dependent change in synaptic strength

Question 7

What occurred after patient HM’s surgery?

Answer 7

He lost his declarative memory. He was unable to retain for more than a minute information about people, places or objects.

Question 8

What must occur for NMDA receptors to become active?

Answer 8

The postsynaptic cell must be depolarized so the Mg block becomes non-functional.

Question 9

What happens if you buffer calcium ions entering the cell?

Answer 9

LTP is blocked

Question 10

Name 2 possible ways to block NMDA receptors pharmacologically?

Answer 10

1. Block binding of transmitter to receptor

2. Block inside of the channel, the ion flow.

Question 11

LTP is NMDA receptor and calcium dependent. True or false?

Answer 11

True

Question 12

What happens when you knock out the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor?

Answer 12

LTP does not work

Question 13

CaMKII in the PSD is ideally positioned to detect local Ca2+ entry through the NMDA receptor. True or False?

Answer 13

True

Question 14

What are the three forms of CaMKII activation?

Answer 14

1. Activation without autophosphorylation
2. Short-term persistent activation by autophosphorylation of threonine 286
3. Long-term persistent activation when the rate of autophosphorylation exceeds the rate of dephosphorylation.

Question 15

CaMKII can only be autophosphorylated? True or False?

Answer 15

False. It can also be phosphorylated in the presence of Ca2+

Question 16

What is happening with AMPARs and LTP?

Answer 16

You have a pool of AMPA receptors that will be inserted into the membrane after LTP. Before LTP there are no AMPARs but after LTP there are AMPAR in the membrane or else there were AMPARs but not there is more AMPARs.

Question 17

Mossy fibre LTP is NMDAR independent? True or False?

Answer 17

True.

Question 18

Synaptic plasticity memory hypothesis?

Answer 18

Homology between properties of LTP and properyies of learning or memory (associativity, input-specificity, persistence)