Suppression of Neural Plasticity in the Visual Cortex Reversed in Adult Mice

Researchers here identify a mechanism that suppresses neural plasticity in the visual cortex of adult mice, a part of the developmental process that permits greater plasticity in childhood, but then restricts it in adults. This plasticity is the generation and integration of new neurons into neural circuits. Increased plasticity in adults may be beneficial, allowing for better maintenance and regeneration in the aging brain. That benefit must be balanced against whatever functional reason has led evolution to establish diminished plasticity with advancing age. If resistance to cancer is the answer, similar to the explanation for reduced stem cell function throughout the body in later life, then this can be addressed along the way. If there are other functional reasons for lower levels of plasticity in adults, and thus increased plasticity might damage the adult brain in some way, such as by causing disarray in established neural networks, then this will be more challenging to resolve. The human brain is very plastic during childhood, and all young mammals have a critical period when different areas of their brains can remodel neural connections in response to external stimuli. Disruption of this precise developmental sequence results in serious damage; conditions such as autism potentially involve disrupted critical periods. "It's been known for a while that maturation of inhibitory nerve cells in the brain controls the onset of critical period plasticity, but how th...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs