Synaptic plasticity in the amygdala: comparisons with hippocampus.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a widely studied form of synaptic plasticity, and a considerable amount of evidence indicates that it could be involved in learning and memory. Intensive investigation of this phenomenon in the hippocampus has yielded tremendous insight into the workings of synapses in the mammalian central nervous system, but important questions remain to be answered. The most important of these are: (1) whether LTP is the basis of learning and memory, and (2) how similar are the induction, maintenance, and expression mechanisms in the rest of the brain to those in the hippocampus.

Deletion of the mental retardation gene Gdi1 impairs associative memory and alters social behavior in mice.

Non-specific mental retardation (NSMR) is a common human disorder characterized by mental handicap as the only clinical symptom. Among the recently identified MR genes is GDI1, which encodes alpha Gdi, one of the proteins controlling the activity of the small GTPases of the Rab family in vesicle fusion and intracellular trafficking. We report the cognitive and behavioral characterization of mice carrying a deletion of Gdi1.