Structural changes at dendritic spine synapses during long-term potentiation
Open accessAbstract
Two key hypotheses about the structural basis of long-term potentiation (LTP) are evaluated in light of new findings from immature rat hippocampal slices. First, it is shown why dendritic spines do not split during LTP. Instead a small number of spine-like dendritic protrusions may emerge to enhance connectivity with potentiated axons. These 'same dendrite multiple synapse boutons' provide less than a 3% increase in connectivity and do not account for all of LTP or memory, as they do not accumulate during maturation. Second, polyribosomes in dendritic spines served to identify which of the existing synapses enlarged to sustain more than a 30% increase in synaptic strength. Thus, both enhanced connectivity and enlarged synapses result during LTP, with synapse enlargement being the greater effect.
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Dendritic spine morphology and number are highly dynamic and variable, and correlated with memory formation.
“Dendritic spine morphology and number are highly dynamic and variable56, which were reported to be correlated with memory formation.”
From Early developmental bisphenol-A exposure sex-independently impairs spatial memory by remodeling hippocampal dendritic architecture and synaptic transmission in rats (2016) · cites this paper as [5]
Section 1, “No Spine Splitting,” links proposed changes in spine size or number to cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. The paper also reports spine outgrowth and synapse enlargement during LTP, but it does not establish that spine morphology and number are generally highly dynamic or demonstrate a correlation with memory formation. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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References 15 · Cited by 180
- Authors
- Harris, K. M., Fiala, J. C., & Ostroff, L.
- Affiliations
- Augusta University (US)
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Harris, Kristen M.
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2003-04-29
- Volume
- 358
- Issue
- 1432
- Pages
- 745-748
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC1693146
- OpenAlex
- W2104180981
- Cited by
- 180
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 5.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH/DA 57351)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS033574, NS21184, NS33574)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- long-term potentiation, dendritic spines, synaptic plasticity, hippocampus, synaptic connectivity, polysomes, immature neurons, memory
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Animals, Animals, Newborn, Dendrites, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Synapses, Long-Term Potentiation
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