Summary: New research has demonstrated that the body’s cortex is quickly rearrange itself after losing cells, allowing new nerve cells to regain previously lost functions. Researchers examined neural network in the auditory cortex and discovered that the brain produced nearly identical trends within days after briefly altering sound-processing patterns.
Cells who had formerly been unaffected by processing stimuli made up for the loss. This dynamic system might provide insight into how the brain maintains function as it progresses or as a result of conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
Important Information
- Rapid Reorganization: Just days after losing a nerve, neural networks re-establish action patterns.
- Functional Compensation: Underused cells can retrain their previous functions by transferring them.
- May help to explain head endurance in aging and degenerative conditions.
Origin: Mainz’s Johannes Gutenberg University
Researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz, the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies ( FIAS ), and Hebrew University ( Jerusalem ) have discovered how the brain largely retains its function when neurons are lost.
They demonstrate that the cognitive cortex’s cerebral networks regrow in a matter of days, with additional nerve cells reorganizing to replace the lost neurons.
These findings may serve as the foundation for future exploration into degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
The research was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on September 21, 2018.
The brain’s most crucial building blocks are nerve cells ( neurons ).
They provide the foundation for all physical and mental processes, including view, sensation, sensation, and movement. Nervous cells in the brain can be lost throughout the course of life for a variety of reasons: they age, are damaged by toxins like alcohol, or degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s cause a more speedy, progressive loss of neurons.
Most body parts frequently replace old or damaged cells with new ones to keep their instrument function, but only new neurons can be found in some parts of the brain. The ability to type new cells in the , cerebral cortex, which controls difficult thought processes and perception, is pretty limited in age.
However, scientific studies have shown that cerebral brain function is frequently remarkably resistant to the loss of neurons that occurs during aging or degenerative diseases, according to Simon Rumpel, mind of the Systems Neurophysiology research group at the University Medical Center Mainz.
It was unexplored until recently how the mind managed to make up for the loss of brain cells and carry out its work. The research team looked into the , neuronal network  , in the , audio cortex, which processes acoustic stimuli, to learn this information using an , an animal model , to find out.
The brain’s ability to perceive sounds is influenced by activity patterns and that are triggered by sound stimuli. These styles are quite complicated. Ph. Older Fellow Matthias Kaschube and D. student Bastian Eppler at FIAS significantly contributed to the study of these files and the view of the results using their expertise.
The researchers discovered that when a few particular muscle cells are lost on purpose, the task patterns start to change. This suggests that the cerebral community accountable for good understanding is in a delicate balance.
Quite similar activity habits start to appear after a short while. The nerve cells that had previously been unable to respond to the sound stimuli now have the capacity to replace the lost cells.
We accept that this recently discovered cerebral mechanism contributes significantly to the loss of nerve cells in neurodegenerative diseases as well as in healthy aging processes, Rumpel writes. Future research projects might attempt to demonstrate this cerebral restructuring.
About this information about science research
Author: Simon Rumpel
Source: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Contact: Simon Rumpel – Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Classic research: Free of charge.
Simon Rumpel and colleagues ‘” Homeostasis of a visual image in the brain” Science of the natural world
Abstract
Homeostasis of a brain visual image
Sensory processing and cerebral function are remarkably resistant to neuron loss as a result of aging and neurodegeneration.
We explored how homeostatic mechanisms preserve the symbolic diagram of sounds after neuron loss using the rat auditory brain.
In layer 2 / 3, we combined two-photon calcium imaging with precise microablation of 30 to 40 sound-responsive neurons.
The symbolic diagram was temporarily slowed down by microablation, but it soon recovered.
Neurones that were originally indifferent to sounds but gradually became responsive and improved the show’s correlation structure were the main drivers of recovery.
In contrast, careful microablation of antagonistic neurons resulted in a continuous disturbance, which was characterized by disrupted sound responses.
Our findings highlight homeostatic mechanisms that prevent sensory processing in the brain by identifying specific nerve tweaking and plasticity as factors in the stability of the population-level visual map.