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Brain plasticity: Changes and resets in homeostasis
June 26, 2009In an article published in the June 25th edition of the journal Neuron, researchers at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, have found that synaptic plasticity, long implicated as a device for 'change' in the brain, may also be essential for stability.
Homeostasis, the body's own mechanism of regulating and maintaining internal balance in the body, is necessary for survival. Precisely how the brain pulls off this tricky balancing act has not been well appreciated.
By examining neural circuits that regulate fluid volume, Jaideep Bains, PhD, and colleagues, Brent Kuzmiski, PhD, and Quentin Pittman, PhD, have demonstrated that multiple forms of synaptic plasticity work to ensure that an effective response to a life-threatening challenge is followed by an immediate recovery of these neural circuits to pre-challenge conditions.
These observations provide the first set of synaptic rules that help us understand how homeostatic setpoints are re-set in vivo. Based on their findings, Bains and colleagues, demonstrate that synaptic plasticity is essential for maintaining stability in a nervous system constantly bombarded by inputs from the outside world.
University of Calgary
These observations provide the first set of synaptic rules that help us understand how homeostatic setpoints are re-set in vivo. Based on their findings, Bains and colleagues, demonstrate that synaptic plasticity is essential for maintaining stability in a nervous system constantly bombarded by inputs from the outside world.
University of Calgary
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Beyond the Synapse: Cell-Cell Signaling in Synaptic Plasticity by R. Douglas Fields (Author) Formation of synapses and the changes in their connections during life are the basis for learning and memory and recovery from brain disease or injury. Much interest has been focused on how synapses function at the molecular level, while the cell-cell interactions controlling the formation receive far less attention. This book expands the scope of inquiry beyond the synaptic cleft to provide a comprehensive insight into how intercellular signalling enables neurons to communicate beyond the synapse, and to interact with other cells in the brain to alter synaptic connections appropriately. There are chapters devoted to consideration of glia, brain cells which have thus far been ignored in the majority of studies of learning and memory. Writing for academic researchers and professionals,... |
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Synaptic Plasticity Blotted Science (Primary Contributor) |
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Disorders of Synaptic Plasticity and Schizophrenia, Volume 59 (International Review of Neurobiology) by John Smythies (Editor) Schizophrenia is a severe brain disorder that affects 1% of the population. Its cause is due to the interaction of a number of abnormal genes with environmental factors. This book summarizes new advances schizophrenia research that focus on the field of neural and synaptic plasticity. Synapses in the brain in schizophrenia show a wide range of disorders, both structural and functional. This volume covers the most active and promising of these new developments, and opens up new avenues for the treatment of schizophrenia. * Addresses new areas of research in neurotransmitters, receptors, vitamin transport, metabolism, and signaling. * Reviews the growing field of synaptic plasticity research * Provides links with other diseases of the... |
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Synaptic Plasticity and Transsynaptic Signaling by Patric K. Stanton (Editor), Clive Bramham (Editor), Helen E. Scharfman (Editor) Brain functions are realized by the activity of neuronal networks composed of a huge number of neurons. The efficiency of information transfer within the networks is changeable. Even the networks themselves can change through experience. Information transfer between neurons is performed at the synapse (the site of the neurons’ contact) by release of neurotransmitters from the pre-synaptic cell and capture of neurotransmitters by the post-synaptic cell. The amount of released neurotransmitter or the efficacy of capture can change. Moreover, synapses are found to be newly formed upon activity or abandoned upon inactivity. These changes are called "synaptic plasticity". This text focuses on one component of synaptic plasticity called transsynaptic signaling, or communication of synapses... |
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Synaptic Plasticity and the Mechanism of Alzheimer's Disease (Research and Perspectives in Alzheimer's Disease) by Dennis J. Selkoe (Editor), Antoine Triller (Editor), Yves Christen (Editor) During most of the 20th century, neurodegenerative diseases remained among the most enigmatic disorders of medicine. The scientific study of these conditions was descriptive in nature, detailing the clinical and neuropathological phenotypes associated with various diseases, but etiologies and pathogenic mechanisms remained obscure. Beginning in the 1970s, advances in two principal areas â biochemical pathology and molecular genetics â combined to yield powerful clues to the molecular underpinnings of several previously "idiopathic" brain disorders. Among the classical neurodegenerative diseases, perhaps the most rapid progress occurred in research on Alzheimerâs disease (AD). In disorders like Huntingtonâs disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and even Parkinsonâs disease,... |
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Synaptic Plasticity in Pain by Marzia Malcangio (Editor) Primary sensory neurons respond to peripheral stimulation and project to the spinal cord. Specifically, the population of neurons which respond to damaging stimuli terminate in the superficial layers of the dorsal horn. Therefore, the dorsal horns constitute the first relay site for nociceptive fibre terminals which make synaptic contacts with second order neurons. It has recently become clear that the strength of this first pain synapse is plastic and modifiable by several modulators, including neuronal and non-neuronal regulators, and studies on the fundamental processes regulating the plasticity of the first pain synapse have resulted in the identification of new targets for the treatment of chronic pain. Synaptic Plasticity and Pain discusses the delineation of some... |
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Synaptic Plasticity: New Research by Tim F. Kaiser (Editor), Felix J. Peters (Editor) Synaptic plasticity is the ability of the connection, or synapse, between two neurons to change in strength. There are several underlying mechanisms that co-operate to achieve synaptic plasticity, including changes in the quantity of neurotransmitter released into a synapse and changes in how effectively cells respond to those neurotransmitters. Since memories are postulated to be represented by vastly interconnected networks of synapses in the brain, synaptic plasticity is one of the important neurochemical foundations of learning and memory. In this book the discussion of synaptic plasticity that effects both physical and mental behaviour of organisms is discussed including as the physical performance of an organism that resulted in a stroke, drug addiction, or the mechanisms of brain... |
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Advances in Synaptic Plasticity by Michel Baudry (Editor), Joel L. Davis (Editor), Richard F. Thompson (Editor) Many neurons exhibit plasticity; that is, they can change structurally or functionally, often in a lasting way. Plasticity is evident in such diverse phenomena as learning and memory, brain development, drug tolerance, sprouting of axon terminals after a brain lesion, and various cellular forms of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity such as long-term potentiation and long-term depression. This book, a follow-up to the editors' Synaptic Plasticity (MIT Press, 1993), reports on the most recent trends in the field. The levels of analysis range from molecular to cellular and network, the unifying theme being the nature of the relationships between synaptic plasticity and information processing and storage. Contributors: Yael Amitai, Michel Baudry, Theodore W. Berger, Pierre-Alain Buchs,... |
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Synaptic Plasticity by Carl W. Cotman (Editor) | |
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Prefrontal Cortex: From Synaptic Plasticity to Cognition by Satoru Otani (Editor) Universite de Paris VI, France. Provides an interdisciplinary view of the function of the anterior portion of the frontal lobe in rodents, humans, and primates. Addresses membrane properties of prefrontal neurons, cognitive psychology, the role of dopamine in cognition, and more. Halftone illustrations. Expanded-outline format. |
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