title: Ca2+ and synaptic plasticity.
abstract: The induction and maintenance of synaptic plasticity is well established to be a Ca2+-dependent process. The use of fluorescent imaging to monitor changes [Ca2+]i in neurones has revealed a diverse array of signaling patterns across the different compartments of the cell. The Ca2+ signals within these compartments are generated by voltage or ligand-gated Ca2+ influx, and release from intracellular stores. The changes in [Ca2+]i are directly linked to the activity of the neurone, thus a neurone's input and output is translated into a dynamic Ca2+ code. Despite considerable progress in measuring this code much still remains to be determined in order to understand how the code is interpreted by the Ca2+ sensors that underlie the induction of compartment-specific plastic changes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3QT, UK.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cavazzini
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bliss
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Emptage
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002118:Calcium / Q000502:physiology*; D020013:Calcium Signaling / Q000502:physiology; D049229:Dendritic Spines / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology; D036881:Long-Term Synaptic Depression; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002118:Calcium