Attention: Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) might be important after all!
Marianne Fillenz Annual Lecture 2019

Several lines of evidence, including recent GWAS, have suggested that schizophrenia may be a disorder of impaired synaptic plasticity, particularly in the hippocampus. Traditionally, hippocampal synaptic plasticity (e.g. long-term potentiation) has been thought to subserve the formation of associative memories. Yet schizophrenic subjects are often considered to be more, rather than less, likely to form associations, which is thought to underlie the generation of their false beliefs and delusions. I will present data showing that ablating key glutamate receptor subunits involved in hippocampal synaptic plasticity (and implicated in schizophrenia) leads to deficits in a form of non-associative short-term memory that underlies the habituation of attention. This generates aberrant salience, hyperdopaminergic responses and increased theta coherence, and an increased (rather than decreased) propensity to form associations, reminiscent of what is seen in schizophrenic patients. The implications of these results for understanding synaptic homeostasis during sleep will also be discussed.
Date: 1 March 2019, 13:00
Venue: Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details: Large Lecture Theatre
Speaker: Professor David Bannerman (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Host: Cortex Club (University of Oxford)
Part of: DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Talitha Smith