News tagged with synaptic plasticity


Structural dynamics underlying memory in aging brains

(Medical Xpress)—When the brains of those who have succumbed to age-related neurodegeneration are analyzed post-mortem, they typically show significant atrophy on all scales. Not only is the cortex thinner ...

Neuroscience created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old brain young

The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now Yale School of Medicine ...

Neuroscience created Mar 06, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

How the brain stays receptive: Channel protein Pannexin1 is critical for memory and orientation

The channel protein Pannexin1 keeps nerve cells flexible and thus the brain receptive for new knowledge. Together with colleagues from Canada and the U.S., researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum led by the junior professor ...

Neuroscience created Jan 09, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Neuroscientists isolate molecular 'when' and 'where' of memory formation

Neuroscientists from New York University and the University of California, Irvine have isolated the "when" and "where" of molecular activity that occurs in the formation of short-, intermediate-, and long-term memories. Their ...

Neuroscience created Oct 15, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Intravenous vaccination promotes brain plasticity and prevents memory loss in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable, progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting over five million people worldwide, and is the leading cause of dementia in the elderly. Currently, intravenous human immunoglobulin ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Apr 23, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New discoveries on depression

(Medical Xpress) -- During depression, the brain becomes less plastic and adaptable, and thus less able to perform certain tasks, like storing memories. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now traced the brain's lower ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 28, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

A mechanism to improve learning and memory

There are a number of drugs and experimental conditions that can block cognitive function and impair learning and memory. However, scientists have recently shown that some drugs can actually improve cognitive function, which ...

Neuroscience created Feb 21, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Dodging the cognitive hit of early-life seizures

About half of newborns who have seizures go on to have long-term intellectual and memory deficits and cognitive disorders such as autism, but why this occurs has been unknown. In the December 14 Journal of Neuroscience, resear ...

Neuroscience created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Study provides potential explanation for mechanisms of associative memory

Researchers from the University of Bristol have discovered that a chemical compound in the brain can weaken the synaptic connections between neurons in a region of the brain important for the formation of long-term memories. ...

Neuroscience created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Drug reverses aging-associated changes in brain cells

Drugs that affect the levels of an important brain protein involved in learning and memory reverse cellular changes in the brain seen during aging, according to an animal study in the December 7 issue of The Journal of Ne ...

Neuroscience created Dec 07, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The biology behind alcohol-induced blackouts

(Medical Xpress) -- A person who drinks too much alcohol may be able to perform complicated tasks, such as dancing, carrying on a conversation or even driving a car, but later have no memory of those escapades. ...

Neuroscience created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nicotine and cocaine leave similar mark on brain after first contact

The effects of nicotine upon brain regions involved in addiction mirror those of cocaine, according to new neuroscience research.

Neuroscience created May 03, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast