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synaptic plasticity

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·October 3, 2020·5 min read

Could a Fecal Transplant One Day Be the Secret of Eternal Youth?

Fecal transplants could someday be a useful tool to help improve cognitive decline associated with aging, a new study reports.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 21, 2020·5 min read

Scientists Observe Learning Processes Online in the Brain

Repeatedly administered tactile simulation over a sustained period of time alters neural processing of the hand area in the brain. The observable changes over time illustrate neuroplasticity and shed new light on the process of learning.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·July 20, 2020·5 min read

Study Helps to Settle Debate on Roles of REM and Non-REM Sleep in Visual Learning

During non-REM sleep, visual areas of the brain exhibit an excitation/inhibition balance indicative of increased plasticity. REM sleep appears to be essential for people to reap the benefits of the increased plasticity that occurs during NREM sleep.

Featured Neurology

·July 20, 2020·4 min read

Oxytocin Could Be Used to Treat Cognitive Disorders Like Alzheimer’s

Oxytocin, the so-called "love hormone," could help to treat cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Researchers demonstrated oxytocin reversed the effects of amyloid-beta on hippocampal LTP in mice. The findings suggest oxytocin could be used as a therapeutic for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 6, 2020·6 min read

To Let Neurons Talk, Immune Cells Clear Paths Through Brain’s ‘Scaffolding’

Dropping the level of the IL-33 immune molecule increased the number of synapses in the brain. In older mice, ramping up IL-33 helped push the number of new synapses toward a more youthful state.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 4, 2020·3 min read

Adult neurogenesis essential for sleep-induced memory consolidation

Adult born neurons are essential for synaptic structural remodeling and memory consolidation during REM sleep, a new mouse study found.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·May 11, 2020·3 min read

Resilience to ALS due to synaptic safety mechanism

Study reveals a self-corrective mechanism within synapses that is activated by neurodegeneration and slows disease progression in animal models of ALS.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 4, 2020·2 min read

How synaptic changes translate to behavior changes

Learning produces changes in connectivity via multiple synaptic mechanisms that are consistent with observed behavioral changes.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 4, 2020·4 min read

Exercise boosts motor skill learning via changes in brain’s transmitters

Neurons in the caudal pedunculopontine nucleus, an area of the brain that regulates motor coordination, switch neurotransmitters from acetylcholine to GABA as a result of exercise. The switch appears to provide feedback control that regulates motor coordination and skill learning.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·April 26, 2020·4 min read

Effects of rapid-acting antidepressant ketamine consolidated in sleep?

Brain connections strengthened with treatment from fast-acting antidepressants, such as ketamine, are consolidated during deep sleep. Researchers propose rapid antidepressant treatments share the ability to regulate both synaptic potentiation and homeostatic mechanisms, which may contribute to how the brain reorganizes its activity to defeat depression.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·April 24, 2020·3 min read

Adult astrocytes are key to learning and memory

Mice deficient in the NFIA gene presented astrocytes with defective shapes and altered functions in the hippocampus.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·March 3, 2020·3 min read

Brain cells that change shape after a meal

Following a meal, astrocytes associated with POMC neurons in the hypothalamus alter their shape. After eating, glucose levels increase temporarily. Astrocytes detect the signal and react within one hour, causing POMC neurons to activate and promote the feeling of satiety.