Synaptic Plasticity: Cerebellum

In neural networks, activity-dependent synaptic plasticity can be long lasting and bidirectional. Synapses can be potentiated (long-term potentiation (LTP)) or depressed (long-term depression (LTD)), enabling the storage (and erasure) of information at selected sets of synapses. In the cerebellum, LTD at parallel fiber to Purkinje cell synapses is believed to provide a cellular basis for forms of cerebellar motor learning. More recently described forms of LTP might, in turn, provide reversal mechanisms. This article describes cerebellar LTD and LTP from a cellular/molecular perspective and points out similarities and differences to their counterparts at hippocampal synapses.

• View at Publisher
• View at Scopus