Abstract

Silent synapses abound in the young brain, representing an early step in the pathway of experience-dependent synaptic development. Discovered amidst the debate over whether long-term potentiation reflects a presynaptic or a postsynaptic modification, silent synapses — which in the hippocampal CA1 subfield are characterized by the presence of NMDA receptors but not AMPA receptors — have stirred some mechanistic controversy of their own. Out of this literature has emerged a model for synapse unsilencing that highlights the central role for postsynaptic AMPA-receptor trafficking in the expression of excitatory synaptic plasticity.

Author affiliations

1. Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco, 600 16^th Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2140, USA.
2. Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, 600 16^th Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2140, USA.
3. Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, 600 16^th Street, San Francisco, California 94143-2140, USA.

Correspondence to: Roger A. Nicoll^1,3 Email: nicoll@cmp.ucsf.edu

Published online 15 October 2008

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