Synaptic Plasticity: Short Term

Robert S Zucker, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Published online: September 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0004054

The strength of synaptic transmission can increase or decrease during repetitive presynaptic activity. These changes, usually due to variations in the amount of transmitter released by each action potential, dynamically shape the information transfer characteristics of synapses.

Keywords: facilitation; posttetanic potentiation; depression; calcium; transmitter release

Figure 1. The different kinetic components of short-term synaptic plasticity.
close
 References
    Atluri PP and Regehr WG (1996) Determinants of the time course of facilitation at the granule cell to Purkinje cell synapse. Journal of Neuroscience 16: 5661–5671.
    Blatow M, Caputi A, Burnashev N, Monyer H and Rozov A (2003)  Ca2+ buffer saturation underlies paired pulse facilitation in calbindin-D28k-containing terminals. Neuron 10: 79–88.
    Katz B and Miledi R (1968) The role of calcium in neuromuscular facilitation. Journal of Physiology 195: 481–492.
    Kamiya H and Zucker RS (1994) Residual  Ca2+ and short-term synaptic plasticity. Nature 371: 603–606.
    Liley AW and North KAK (1953) An electrical investigation of effects of repetitive stimulation on mammalian neuromuscular junctions. Journal of Neurophysiology 16: 509–527.
    Schikorski R and Stevens CF (1997) Quantitative ultrastructural analysis of hippocampal excitatory synapses. Journal of Neuroscience 17: 5858–5867.
    Sippy T, Cruz-Martin A, Jeromin A and Schweizer FE (2003) Acute changes in short-term plasticity at synapses with elevated levels of neuronal calcium sensor-1. Nature Neuroscience 6: 1031–1038.
    Tang Y-G and Zucker RS (1997) Mitochondrial involvement in post-tetanic potentiation of synaptic transmission. Neuron 18: 483–491.
 Further Reading
    Fisher SA, Fischer TM and Carew TJ (1997) Multiple overlapping processes underlying short-term synaptic enhancement. Trends in Neurosciences 20: 170–177.
    Zador AM and Dobrunz LE (1997) Dynamic synapses in the cortex. Neuron 19: 1–4.
    Zucker RS (1989) Short-term synaptic plasticity. Annual Review of Neuroscience 12: 13–31.
    Zucker RS (1994) Calcium and short-term synaptic plasticity. Netherlands Journal of Zoology 44: 495–512.
    Zucker RS (1996) Exocytosis: a molecular and physiological perspective. Neuron 17: 1049–1055.
    book Zucker RS, Kullmann DM and Schwarz TL (2003) "Release of Neurotransmitters". In: Byrne JH and Roberts J (eds) Fundamental from Molecules to Networks. An Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, pp. 197–244. San Diego: Academic Press
    Zucker RS and Regehr WG (2002) Short-term synaptic plasticity. Annual Review of Physiology 64: 355–406.

Related Sub-Topics:

Synaptic Transmission
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Synaptic Plasticity: Short Term
 
How to Cite close
Zucker, Robert S(Sep 2005) Synaptic Plasticity: Short Term. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0004054]