Intrinsic Plasticity Lab Report

As for long-term sensitization, it has already been noted that it involves changes in both protein synthesis and gene regulation, unlike its short-term counterpart. Another difference between the two is that long-term involves structural modifications in many situations. An experiment had been previously conducted that involved taking neurons from a trained animal and an untrained animal. These neurons were then dyed. This allowed the axons and their branches to be more visible and distinct from each other. The branches are rather fine and have small varicosities, or swellings, along them. The varicosities are the presynaptic terminals of the sensory neurons that end up making contact with other neurons. Most often they make contact with motor neurons. One can see the different axons from the trained and untrained animals. The neuron from the trained animal was taken and dyed twenty-four hours after the animal had undergone sensitization training. This neuron clearly shows a larger quantity of branches and many more varicosities than the neuron of the untrained animal (App. 3).

This experiment

Intrinsic plasticity is further divided into two types, synaptic depression and synaptic facilitation. Synapses can exhibit one or both of these forms of intrinsic plasticity. An action potential in a sensory neuron produces an EPSP within its paired motor neuron. Then, a second action potential in the sensory neuron occurs about two hundred milliseconds after the first, but it creates a smaller EPSP this time. This is known as synaptic depression. Synaptic transmission through this is not constant, the effectiveness varies based on the frequency of the stimulation. Synaptic facilitation, on the other hand, is when two action potentials in a presynaptic cell produce two EPSPs within the postsynaptic cell. In this case, the second EPSP is actually larger than the