关键词: 神经元, 突触, 长时程突触可塑性, 长时程突触增强(LTP), 长时程突触减弱(LTD)

Abstract: The human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons, and each neuron connects and communicates with others by up to 10 000 synapses, and the interconnected neurons form distinctive functional networks to provide the fundamental neural basis for many highorder brain functions including consciousness, cognition, learning and memory. These synaptic connections are dynamic and plastic, and their structure and function are susceptible to persistent modifications by the external inputselicited neuronal activities, a property widely known as activitydependent longterm synaptic plasticity. Numerous experimental and theoretical studies support that longterm synaptic plasticity is one of the fundamentally cellular mechanisms for the learning and memory and involved in the nervous system diseases (e.g. Alzheimer disease, drug addiction). This article is aimed to provide an introduction and our outlook to the research of longterm synaptic plasticity. 

Key words: sneuron, synapse, synaptic plasticity, longterm synaptic plasticity, longterm potentiation, LTP