APStracts 3:0068N, 1996.

The dendritic spine: A multifunctional integrative unit. Shepherd, Gordon M. Section of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510.

APStracts 3:0068N, 1996.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Among current problems in neuroscience, the function of the dendritic spine is one of the most critical and controversial. The importance of the spine cannot be underestimated. It is the primary site of excitatory synapses on cortical pyramidal neurons, cerebellar Purkinje cells and a variety of other neuron types, in both vertebrates and invertebrates. It plays an essential role not only in rapid synaptic transmission but also in activity dependent processes such as long term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) that may underlie learning and memory.

Received 28 December 1995; accepted in final form 1 March 1996.
APS Manuscript Number J871-5.
Article publication pending J. Neurophysiol.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 16 April 96