• John G Howland and WangYu TianYT.
• Neural Systems and Plasticity Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A5, Canada.
• Prog. Brain Res. 2008 Jan 1; 169: 145-58.

AbstractSynaptic plasticity has often been argued to play an important role in learning and memory. The discovery of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), the two most widely cited cellular models of synaptic plasticity, significantly spurred research in this field. Although correlative evidence suggesting a role for synaptic changes such as those seen in LTP and LTD in learning and memory has been gained in a number of studies, definitive demonstrations of a specific role for either LTP or LTD in learning and memory are lacking. In this review, we discuss a number of recent advancements in the understanding of the mechanisms that mediate LTP and LTD in the rodent hippocampus and focus on the use of subunit-specific N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists and interference peptides as potential tools to study the role of synaptic plasticity in learning and memory. By using the modulation of synaptic plasticity and hippocampal-dependent learning and memory by acute stress as an example, we review a large body of convincing evidence indicating that alterations in synaptic plasticity underlie the changes in learning and memory produced by acute stress.

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