Provided are in vivo and in vitro methods for identifying or detecting a synapse which has been activated, or assessing the level of activation of a synapse, which method comprises: (i) determining the presence and\or amount, in a morphologically specialised postsynaptic site in the synapse (e.g. a dendritic spine), of a detectable cellular component associated with the activation (which is a 'tag' or 'marker' for the activation e.g. an actin-cytoskeleton interacting protein such as profilin II or gelsolin), and (ii) correlating the result of the determination with synaptic activation. Such assays can be useful in identifying processes involved in LTP, and also more generally in identifying modulators of synaptic activation or transmission, and hence cognitive function.
METHODS AND MARKERS FOR IDENTIFYING ACTIVATED SYNAPSES