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Synapses Plastic plasticity

Nature volume 389, pages 791–792 (1997)Cite this article

Over the past 20 years neuroscientists have become increasingly struck by the enormous capacity of the nervous system for adaptation. The latest development appears on page 860of this issue1, where Fischer and colleagues describe analysis of a deceptively simple neural system in the mollusc Aplysia.

One of the main sites that expresses adaptation in the nervous system is the synapse — a structure, unique to neurons, where chemical messengers are released by nerve impulses in the presynaptic terminal and diffuse across a small distance to produce electrical changes in the target, postsynaptic, neuron. These sites of interneuronal communication are far from the rigid ‘solder joints’ they were once thought to be. Rather, nerve impulses alter the process of synaptic transmission so that the ability of subsequent impulses in the presynaptic neuron to influence the postsynaptic neuron is enhanced (or in some cases reduced).

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Figure 1: Simplified version of a neural circuit that controls a defensive reflex in the mollusc Aplysia.
Figure 2: Possible mechanisms for metaplasticity.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, Medical School, 6431 Fannin Street, Suite 7.046, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    John H. Byrne

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  1. John H. Byrne
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Byrne, J. Synapses Plastic plasticity. Nature 389, 791–792 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/39746

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