In: Biology
What it is long term depression in neuroscience?
In neuroscience, Long term depression refers to an activity dependent reduction in the efficacy of neuronal synapses lasting hours or longer following a long term stimulus or from persistent weak synaptic stimulation.
Long Term depression decreases the efficacy of synapses in both the Cerebellum and Hippocampus. It can result from strong stimulation in case of Cerebellar Purkinje cells and from persistent weak synaptic stimulation in case of Hippocampus.
The most common neurotransmitter involved in LTD is glutamate which acts on NMDA receptors (N- methyl D-aspartate), metabotropic glutamate receptors, AMPA receptor (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid).
Long term depression is a long-lasting decrease in strength of synaptic connections which means a reduction in neural plasticity. During LTD at the synapse there is :-
LTD is important as it allows strengthening to continue in neural connections to aid in encoding information.