When the brain’s primary “learning center” is damaged, complex new neural circuits arise to compensate for the lost function, say life scientists from UCLA and Australia who have pinpointed the regions of the brain involved in creating those alternate pathways — often far from the damaged site.
The research, conducted by UCLA’s Michael Fanselow and Moriel Zelikowsky in collaboration with Bryce Vissel, a group leader of the neuroscience research program at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, appears this week in the early online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The researchers found that parts of the prefrontal cortex take over when the hippocampus, the brain’s key center of learning and memory formation, is disabled. Their breakthrough discovery, the first demonstration of such neural-circuit plasticity, could potentially help scientists develop new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and other conditions involving damage to the brain.
For the study, Fanselow and Zelikowsky conducted laboratory experiments with rats showing that the rodents were able to learn new tasks even after damage to the hippocampus. While the rats needed more training than they would have normally, they nonetheless learned from their experiences — a surprising finding.
“I expect that the brain probably has to be trained through experience,” said Fanselow, a professor of psychology and member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute, who was the study’s senior author. “In this case, we gave animals a problem to solve.”
After discovering the rats could, in fact, learn to solve problems, Zelikowsky, a graduate student in Fanselow’s laboratory, traveled to Australia, where she worked with Vissel to analyze the anatomy of the changes that had taken place in the rats’ brains. Their analysis identified significant functional changes in two specific regions of the prefrontal cortex.
“Interestingly, previous studies had shown that these prefrontal cortex regions also light up in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, suggesting that similar compensatory circuits develop in people,” Vissel said. “While it’s probable that the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers are already compensating for damage, this discovery has significant potential for extending that compensation and improving the lives of many.”
The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure where memories are formed in the brain, plays critical roles in processing, storing and recalling information. The hippocampus is highly susceptible to damage through stroke or lack of oxygen and is critically involved in Alzheimer’s disease, Fanselow said.
“Until now, we’ve been trying to figure out how to stimulate repair within the hippocampus,” he said. “Now we can see other structures stepping in and whole new brain circuits coming into being.”
Zelikowsky said she found it interesting that sub-regions in the prefrontal cortex compensated in different ways, with one sub-region — the infralimbic cortex — silencing its activity and another sub-region — the prelimbic cortex — increasing its activity.
“If we’re going to harness this kind of plasticity to help stroke victims or people with Alzheimer’s,” she said, “we first have to understand exactly how to differentially enhance and silence function, either behaviorally or pharmacologically. It’s clearly important not to enhance all areas. The brain works by silencing and activating different populations of neurons. To form memories, you have to filter out what’s important and what’s not.”
Complex behavior always involves multiple parts of the brain communicating with one another, with one region’s message affecting how another region will respond, Fanselow noted. These molecular changes produce our memories, feelings and actions.
“The brain is heavily interconnected — you can get from any neuron in the brain to any other neuron via about six synaptic connections,” he said. “So there are many alternate pathways the brain can use, but it normally doesn’t use them unless it’s forced to. Once we understand how the brain makes these decisions, then we’re in a position to encourage pathways to take over when they need to, especially in the case of brain damage.
The Latest Bing News on:
Neural-circuit plasticity
- How Can Neuroscience Explain Psychotherapeutic Change?on July 28, 2024 at 11:37 am
How does psychotherapy work? Discover the neuroscientific principles that explain how psychotherapy rewires the brain and transforms your internal model of the world.
- The Power of Neuroplasticity: How Spiritual Practices Transform the Brainon July 22, 2024 at 12:47 am
Revolutionary research on neuroplasticity reveals how spiritual practices like meditation can reshape our brains for personal growth and mental well-b ...
- Lab-grown human neuron assembloids effectively model synaptic plasticityon July 19, 2024 at 6:10 am
The ability to study human neurological systems depends on having viable, accurate models of brain function. St. Jude researchers have now created a model for such research by combining thalamic cells ...
- Nanomedicine researchers develop new technology to control neural circuits using magnetic fieldson July 17, 2024 at 8:13 am
Researchers at the Center for Nanomedicine within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and Yonsei University in South Korea have unveiled a technology that can manipulate specific regions of the ...
- Neural Plasticity: Restoring cerebellar-dependent learningon July 16, 2024 at 10:13 am
Behavioral and pharmaceutical interventions reverse defects associated with increased cerebellar long-term depression in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome.
- Molecular insights into cognitive impairment: New research uncovers how Parkinson's affects the brainon July 11, 2024 at 7:38 am
Parkinson's is associated with a higher risk of cognitive impairment and dementia that can severely impact quality of life. Cognitive symptoms include deficits in attention and mental flexibility, ...
- Mental Stimulation, Neural Plasticity, and Aging: Directions for Nursing Research and Practiceon July 9, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Mental stimulation that consists of cognitively challenging activities is a means to facilitate neural plasticity, which can increase cognitive reserve and result in maintained or improved ...
- A new brain-inspired artificial dendritic neural circuiton July 5, 2024 at 6:20 am
"Dendrites utilize their tree-like morphology for mapping spatially distributed signals, exhibiting branch-specific plasticity ... a neuromorphic dendritic neural circuit that computes the ...
- Finding the sweet spot in brain developmenton June 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Short-lived neural connections in the mouse brain help prime sensory circuits, forever affecting the mouse's sense of touch. Neuroscientists have discovered that a receptor protein named mGluR1 ...
- Neural Plasticity and Disorders of the Nervous Systemon March 7, 2024 at 10:32 am
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Neural-circuit plasticity
[google_news title=”” keyword=”neural-circuit plasticity” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Repairing brain damage
- Emilia Clarke: 'Hospitals will fix your brain, but the recovery process will save you'on July 26, 2024 at 9:00 pm
Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke shares her story of recovering from brain injuries as she celebrated the partnership with Big Issue ...
- WEBXTRA: Tyler City Council makes moves to help city repair from storm damageon July 24, 2024 at 6:03 pm
Tyler City Council approved two requests to help the city further recover and clean up after the storms. A third-party firm will now help the city apply for FEMA assistance that will go toward storm ...
- Can omega-3 fatty acids protect your brain from dementiaon July 24, 2024 at 2:21 am
Dementia is a condition that affects memory, thinking, and behavior, making it difficult for those affected to carry out everyday activities. As people age, the risk of developing dementia increases.
- Animal model sheds light on the role understudied brain organ in repairing stroke damageon July 8, 2024 at 5:00 pm
University of Cincinnati researchers have pioneered an animal model that sheds light on the role an understudied organ in the brain has in repairing damage caused by stroke. The research was ...
- Brain organ plays key role in adult neurogenesison July 7, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Research found the choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid play a key role in maintaining a pool of newly born neurons to repair the adult brain after injury. University of Cincinnati researchers ...
- Hope for brain damage suffererson July 1, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Experiments on animals have already revealed astonishing success in repairing brain damage with an injection of millions of these new cells, they said. Human trials are expected to be launched ...
- University of Cincinnati study: Overlooked brain organ plays key role in promoting brain repair after strokeon July 1, 2024 at 12:02 pm
University of Cincinnati researchers have pioneered an animal model that sheds light on the role an understudied organ in the brain has in repairing damage caused by stroke. The research ...
- Overlooked brain organ plays key role in promoting brain repair after stroke, researchers discoveron June 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm
University of Cincinnati researchers have pioneered an animal model that sheds light on the role an understudied organ in the brain has in repairing damage caused by stroke. The research team ...
- Overlooked brain organ plays key role in promoting brain repair after strokeon June 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Scientists found the choroid plexus and cerebrospinal fluid play a key role in maintaining a pool of newly born neurons to repair the adult brain after injury. University of Cincinnati researchers ...
- Repair of neural pathways by olfactory ensheathing cellson October 31, 2023 at 4:02 am
The brain is the ultimate ... response of the glial cells to injury is a crucial contributor to the failure of axon regeneration in CNS white matter, and that repair of the glial pathway by ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Repairing brain damage
[google_news title=”” keyword=”repairing brain damage” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]