Synaptic stabilization is crucial in the developing and adult nervous systems and is considered a result of the late phase of long-term potentiation (LTP). The mechanism involves strengthening and maintaining active synapses through increased expression of cytoskeletal and extracellular matrix elements and postsynaptic scaffold proteins, while pruning less active ones. For example, cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) play a large role in synaptic maintenance and stabilization. Gerald Edelman discovered CAMs and studied their function during development, which showed CAMs are required for cell migration and the formation of the entire nervous system.[1][2] In the adult nervous system, CAMs play an integral role in synaptic plasticity relating to learning and memory.[3]
- ^ Rutishauser U, Jessell TM (July 1988). "Cell adhesion molecules in vertebrate neural development". Physiological Reviews. 68 (3): 819–57. doi:10.1152/physrev.1988.68.3.819. PMID 3293093.
- ^ "Gerald M. Edelman biography". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ^ Benson DL, Schnapp LM, Shapiro L, Huntley GW (November 2000). "Making memories stick: cell-adhesion molecules in synaptic plasticity". Trends in Cell Biology. 10 (11): 473–82. doi:10.1016/S0962-8924(00)01838-9. PMID 11050419.