POSTSYNAPTIC CALCIUM AND CALCIUM-DEPENDENT PROCESSES IN SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN THE DEVELOPING VISUAL-CORTEX

In this paper we describe some of the results obtained from recent exp eriments on mechanisms underlying long-term potentiation (LTP) and lon g-term depression (LTD) in the visual cortex of young rats. In particu lar. we focus on experiments which tested the hypothesis that the indu ction of LTP in the visual cortex is of Hebbian type and that an input -associated Ca2+ rise at postsynaptic sites and subsequent activation of protein kinases or protein phosphatases may play roles in the induc tion of LTP or LTD in the developing visual cortex.