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Hippocampal synaptic plasticity and cognition
Author(s) -
Akhondzadeh S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of clinical pharmacy and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.622
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2710
pISSN - 0269-4727
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2710.1999.00231.x
Subject(s) - neuroscience , long term potentiation , hippocampal formation , hippocampus , synaptic plasticity , metaplasticity , psychology , cognition , neurotransmission , neuroplasticity , amnesia , memory consolidation , biology , cognitive psychology , receptor , biochemistry
SUMMARY Discoveries made over the past 20 years have greatly improved our understanding of how the brain functions. This article focuses on the relation between memory and cellular mechanisms of neuronal and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. Several studies indicate that the hippocampal formation is a crucial element of the neurobiological bases of higher cognitive function. Severe damage to the hippocampal formation is known to produce seemingly permanent anterograde amnesia. A generally accepted hypothesis in neurobiology has been that long‐lasting activity‐dependent changes in the efficacy of synaptic transmission in the mammalian brain are considered to be of fundamental importance for the development of neural circuitry and for the storage of information. The most compelling and reliable model for such changes has been long‐term potentiation (LTP) and long‐term depression (LTD) in the hippocampus. Therefore, the possibility of the discovery and development of compounds that, by modulating hippocampal synaptic plasticity, would be useful for the management of dementia and amnesia.