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Late-phase long-term potentiation: getting to the nucleus

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 6, pages 737–743 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

New mRNA must be transcribed in order to consolidate changes in synaptic strength. But how are events at the synapse communicated to the nucleus? Some research has shown that proteins can move from activated synapses to the nucleus. However, other work has shown that action potentials can directly inform the nucleus about cellular activation. Here we contend that action potential-induced signalling to the nucleus best meets the requirements of the consolidation of synapse-specific plasticity, which include both timing and stoichiometric constraints.

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Figure 1: What is late-phase long-term potentiation?
Figure 2: Synapse-to-nucleus versus action potential-mediated signalling

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Darden, D. Armstrong and T. Archer for their helpful discussions. Sizes of spines and nuclei were obtained from the Atlas of Ultrastructural Neurocytology and Synapse Web.

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  1. the Laboratory of Neurobiology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709, USA

    J. Paige Adams & Serena M. Dudek

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  1. J. Paige Adams
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Correspondence to Serena M. Dudek.

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DATABASES

Entrez Gene

APP

Arc

CaMKIV

CASK

CREB

ERK

NF-κB

Staufen

Zif268

FURTHER INFORMATION

Atlas of Ultrastructural Neurocytology

Synapse Web

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Adams, J., Dudek, S. Late-phase long-term potentiation: getting to the nucleus. Nat Rev Neurosci 6, 737–743 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1749

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