june, 2022
Event Details
Prof. Kristen M. Harris, PhD from the Department of Neuroscience, Center for Learning and Memory, Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Texas, Austin will talk about
“Ready for synaptic plasticity”.
Nascent zones are portions of the postsynaptic density that have no presynaptic vesicles aggregated at them. They are dynamic during long-term potentiation (LTP), filling with presynaptic vesicles and enlarging the active zone during the initiation and saturation phase of LTP. The presynaptic vesicles become more tightly tethered to the active zone providing a structural correlate of the elevated probability of release. By 2 hours after initiation of LTP nascent zones have reappeared and are ready to augment LTP. This interval could provide a structural basis for synaptic plasticity underlying the advantage of spaced over massed learning. Presumably there is a limit to how large a single potentiated synapse can grow; hence, the other lasting effect is the recruitment of spine outgrowth in the vicinity of the resource-rich dendritic spines that become most enlarged during LTP. How nascent zone dynamics fit into the sliding synaptic modification threshold model and metaplasticity will be discussed in this lecture.
Host: Prof. Dr. Silvio Rizzoli
Poster of the talk 
