Long-term potentiation induced by physiologically relevant stimulus patterns.

Single pulse stimuli were delivered to the Schaffer collaterals in the in vitro hippocampal slice preparation. Local application of bicuculline to the CA3 region resulted in a series of population cell bursts in CA3, resembling the neuronal patterns which occur in the normal, freely moving rat during hippocampal sharp waves. These bicuculline-induced cell bursts in CA3 resulted in long-term potentiation (LTP) of the CA1 response. These findings suggest that the naturally occurring hippocampal sharp waves may reflect events analogous to artificially induced LTP.