long-term potentiation

English

Alternative forms

• long term potentiation

Noun

long-term potentiation (uncountable)

1. (neuroscience) A long-lasting (hours in vitro, weeks to months in vivo) increase, typically in amplitude, of the response of a postsynaptic neuron to a particular pattern of stimuli from a presynaptic neuron.
   • 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial 2004, p. 228:

     Long-term potentiation, like sea-slug learning, absolutely depends on a change in the properties of synapses, in this case the synapses between the inputting cells and the pyramidal cells.

Synonyms

• LTP

Coordinate terms

• short-term potentiation