Source: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: March 28, 2008
Summary:
To lock in a memory, nerve cells must strengthen their connections with some neighbors but not others. Three research groups at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have collaborated to identify a protein whose action helps alter the strength of synaptic connections in fruit flies as they form memories. Synapses are the tiny gaps across which information crosses between nerve cells. Changes in the strength of synaptic connections, called plasticity, play a vital role in both memory formation and learning, and help determine how nerve signals propagate.
