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An example of long-term potentiation (LTP).
An example of long-term potentiation (LTP).

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the long-lasting enhancement in efficacy of the synapse between two neurons. Though its biological mechanisms have not yet been fully determined, LTP is believed to contribute to synaptic plasticity in living animals, providing the foundation for a highly adaptable nervous system. Most neuroscientific learning theories regard long-term potentiation and its opposing process, long-term depression, as the cellular basis of learning and memory.

Experimentally, a series of short, high-frequency electric stimulations to a nerve cell synapse can strengthen, or potentiate, that synapse for minutes to hours. In living cells, LTP occurs naturally and can last from hours to days, months, and years.

LTP was discovered in the mammalian hippocampus by Terje Lømo in 1966 and has remained a popular subject of neuroscientific research since. Most modern LTP studies seek to better understand its biology, while other research aims to develop drugs that exploit these biological mechanisms to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

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