long-term potentiation is a stable and enduring increase in the effectiveness of synapses. to see LTP, we electrically stimulate axons in a circuit at a slow rate... and we find that the size of the response in the postsynaptic neurons is quite stable. but if we then stimulate the axons with a brief tetanus (a flurry of electrical stimulation triggering thousands of action potentials over 1 to 2 s), the size of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) responses increases markedly and remains high throughout the recording period. This greater effectiveness of the synapses after the tetanus is the LTP.


after two hours of intense concentration, I shrieked, "long-term potentiation is raping my brain!". and then I realized, long-term potentiation IS raping my brain.


cheers to NMDA receptors and may your hippocampal formation have a good night.