Compartmentalization of Synaptic Tagging and Capture

Testing of the synaptic tagging and capture (STC) hypothesis has produced remarkable work on the understanding of how a single neuron undergoes spatial and temporal encoding of information. Central to this work is the notion that STC processes can be compartment specific. Formed by activation of synaptic plasticity mechanisms and extending along confined dendritic domains, these compartments can work as the neuron’s information integration units. The association or dismissal of incoming information would depend on the plasticity-driven functional state of the compartment. With multiple streams of neural activity arriving at distinct synapses in a neuron, compartmentalization emerges as a key strategy to organize this information and enhance the neuron’s computing capability.