NEUR 420 · Neuroscience
Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity
Biophysical and biochemical mechanisms of vesicular release, postsynaptic receptors, retrograde signaling, long-term potentiation and depression, and structural synaptic remodeling.
Catalog overview
Course Essentials
- Credits
- 3
- Level
- 400 upper division
- Typically offered
- Spring, even years
- Prerequisites
- NEUR 301.
400-level courses: advanced capstone, senior research, and specialized seminars. Counts toward the 36 upper-division credits every bachelor's degree requires (Undergraduate Catalog §2.3). Details: Undergraduate Catalog §9.19.
Department of Neuroscience
Department page →Questions about a major or your plan: Academic Advising Center, Lovell Hall 101, (555) 555-0158.
NEUR 420 runs on a two-year rotation and isn't offered in 2026–27; it's next scheduled for Spring 2028. Department chairs make teaching assignments each year (Faculty Handbook §5.1), and every instructor posts the syllabus in Canvas by the first day of classes (Faculty Handbook §5.2).
Generative AI in this course
Every syllabus must state one of three levels: Level 1 (AI not permitted for graded work), Level 2 (AI permitted with disclosure for specified tasks), Level 3 (AI permitted broadly with disclosure). Check your section's syllabus in Canvas. Unless it says otherwise, the university default applies: generative AI tools may be used for brainstorming, studying, and feedback on your own drafts, but not to produce work you submit for a grade.
Details: Student Handbook §5.7 and Student Handbook §5.8. See what each AI level allows.
Degree planning
Where NEUR 420 fits
What to take first, what this course opens up, and the requirements it can satisfy, from the Undergraduate Catalog.
Take first
Catalog wording: NEUR 301.
Leads to
All Neuroscience courses →No other catalog course lists NEUR 420 as a prerequisite.
Counts toward
All programs →- Elective Neuroscience (BS) Can count toward: Three 300/400-Level Neuroscience Electives. Undergraduate Catalog §10.8
Every course also counts toward the 120 credits needed for a bachelor's degree. Confirm your plan with your advisor or the Academic Advising Center.
AP credit
AP equivalency table →No AP exam awards credit for NEUR 420 (Undergraduate Catalog §3.11).
Registration
How to enroll in NEUR 420
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Check the prerequisites
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Add it in AlkimiHub
NEUR 420 is offered in the spring semester of even-numbered years; the next offering is Spring 2028. Register through AlkimiHub self-service registration, which opens by credit standing. Until the add deadline, you don't need instructor permission as long as seats remain and you've met the prerequisites. Details: Student Handbook §3.3.
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If the section is full, join the waitlist
When a seat opens, AlkimiHub offers it to the first student on the waitlist and emails you. You have 24 hours to claim it before it goes to the next student. Details: Student Handbook §3.10.
All dates: academic calendar. Registration help: Office of the Registrar.
NEUR courses
More in Neuroscience
- NEUR 201 Introduction to Neuroscience
- NEUR 301 Cellular & Molecular Neuroscience
- NEUR 320 Systems & Behavioral Neuroscience
- NEUR 340 Neurodevelopment and Stem Cells
- NEUR 350 Neuropharmacology
- NEUR 360 Sensory Systems Neuroscience
- NEUR 410 Neurobiology of Disease
- NEUR 420 Synaptic Transmission and Plasticity (this course)
- NEUR 430 Computational Neuroscience
- NEUR 450 Molecular Neurogenetics
- NEUR 490 Senior Neuroscience Capstone Research
- NEUR 495 Undergraduate Neuroscience Research