REDISTRIBUTION OF SYNAPTIC EFFICACY - A MECHANISM TO GENERATE INFINITE SYNAPTIC INPUT DIVERSITY FROM A HOMOGENOUS POPULATION OF NEURONS WITHOUT CHANGING ABSOLUTE SYNAPTIC EFFICACIES

Changing the reliability of neurotransmitter release results in a chan ge in the efficay of low frequency synaptic transmission and in the ra te of high frequency synaptic depression thus it can not cause an unif orm change in strength of synapses and instead results in a change in the dynamics of synaptic transmission referred to as 'redistribution o f synaptic efficacy' (RSE). Since the change in synaptic transmission associated with RSE depends on the history of action potential activit y it is concluded that RSE serves as a mechanism to generate a potenti ally infinite diversity of synaptic input.