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Long-Term Plasticity, Biophysical Models

Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

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Definition

Connections between neurons are called synapses. Their strength is defined as the voltage amplitude, or slope, of a postsynaptic neuron response to a presynaptic action potential. The synapses can change in strength, i.e., they are plastic, and these changes can operate on different time scales. Long-term plasticity denotes the synaptic changes that last more than 20–30 min (see Fig. 1). This is opposed to short-term plasticity that lasts hundreds of milliseconds.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Cartoon of long-term plasticity. The synaptic strength is defined as the height, or the slope, of the postsynaptic voltage response (postsynaptic potential [PSP]) to a presynaptic spike. If the weight is increased, it is called potentiation, and if it is decreased, it is called depression. Long-term plasticity denotes the changes that last more than 20 min

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, grant PA00P3_139703.

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  1. Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Dr. Claudia Clopath

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  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Clopath, C. (2014). Long-Term Plasticity, Biophysical Models. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_351-1

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    Long-Term Plasticity, Biophysical Models
    Published:
    18 September 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_351-2

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    Long-Term Plasticity, Biophysical Models
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    21 March 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_351-1

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