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Neural facilitation, also known as paired pulse facilitation (PPF), is a phenomenon in neuroscience in which postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) (EPPs or EPSPs) evoked by an impulse are increased when that impluse closely follows a prior impulse. PPF is thus a form of short-term synaptic plasticity. The mechanisms underlying neural facilitation are exclusively pre-synaptic; broadly speaking, PPF arises due to increased presynaptic Ca2+ concentration leading to a greater release of neurotransmitter-containing synaptic vesicles. Neural facilitation is involved in various neuronal tasks, including information filtration and sound-source localization.

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Neural facilitation, also known as paired pulse facilitation, is a concept in neuroscience where postsynaptic potentials (PSP) (EPP or EPSP) evoked by an impulse will be increased if it closely follows a prior impulse.

The phenomena of paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) and depression (PPD) are well-known forms of short-term synaptic plasticity. Both are expressed in electrophysiological experiments as changes in the amplitude of a test EPSC evoked by a second presynaptic spike that follows the first (conditioning) one in the paired-pulse paradigm. The second PSP can be up to five times the size of the first. Successive PSPs can grow the original PSP several dozen times within a second in some synapses. Facilitation often occurs with a build and decay time course of about 100 milliseconds.

Facilitation is a phenomenon that occurs solely at the presynaptic side of a synapse, where synaptic vesicles containing neurotransmitter are released from a pool. Facilitation is thought to be the result of an increase in probability of vesicle release from this pool. Early experiments by Del Castillo & Katz in 1954 and Dudel & Kuffler in 1961 showed that facilitation was possible at the neuromuscular junction even if transmitter release does not occur, indicating that facilitation is an exclusively presynaptic phenomenon. The presence of PPF or PPD is dependent on the types of synapses and the experimental conditions. It varies strongly according to the interval between the conditioning and test pulses. PPF has also been shown to vary with the maturation of cells. Synapses in some mammalian species can express depression in early stages and then facilitation with maturation. Short-term plasticity can be responsible for cognitive abilities involving temporal processes, e.g. the determination of: order, duration, and interval. This is an example of a dynamic synapse.