Purkinje neurons: Synaptic plasticy

Abstract

After three decades of research, it is now well established that molecular mechanisms underlying cerebellar motor learning lead to activity-dependent changes in synaptic strength, such as long-term depression (LTD) and longterm potentiation (LTP) at cerebellar parallel fiber (PF)-Purkinje cell (PC) glutamatergic synapses. This review focuses on mechanisms of these longterm changes in synaptic efficacy, even though short-term forms of synaptic plasticity also exist at these synapses and may also contribute to neural processing of information within the cerebellum. In light of the newly obtained experimental data from transgenic mice, it will also be discussed as to why these forms of synaptic plasticity are proposed as the cellular basis for error-driven learning and memory in the motor system.