Hebbian synapses in hippocampus.

Abstract

A combination of current- and voltage-clamp techniques applied to hippocampal brain slices was used to evaluate the role of postsynaptic electrogenesis in the induction of associative synaptic enhancement. In accordance with Hebb's postulate for learning, repetitive postsynaptic spiking enabled enhancement in just those synapses that were eligible to change by virtue of concurrent presynaptic activity. However, the essential postsynaptic electrogenic event that controlled the enhancement was shown to involve biophysical processes that were unknown when Hebb formulated his neurophysiological postulate. The demonstrated spatiotemporal specificity of this pseudo-Hebbian conjunctive mechanism can account qualitatively for the known neurophysiological properties of associative long-term potentiation in these synapses, which in turn can explain the "cooperativity" requirement for long-term potentiation.