Complexity Digest 2008.13 - 07.01

27-Mar-2008

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Neuroscience: A Protoplasmic Kiss to Remember, Science Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: During establishment of long-term memory, protein synthesis, regulated by neurotrophins, affects the morphology of synaptic structures. (...)

Remarkably, it is the smallest element of a neuron's architecture--the dendritic spine--where these critical structural changes occur.

A neuron may contain many spines, branched protoplasmic extensions from dendrites that form synapses with other neurons. Spines conduct electrical signals when stimulated by connecting, presynaptic neurons (as occurs among pyramidal neurons in the mammalian hippocampus).