Health & Medicine
How to Make Old Brains Young Again: Scientists Restore Flexibility to Older Mice
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: May 19, 2015 10:11 AM EDT
Scientists may have given old mice their youthful brains back. Researchers have managed to restore the flexibility of the juvenile brain to the adult brain.
During childhood, novel experiences rapidly mold new connections during critical periods of brain development. In the adult brain, though, connections are hard to change. That's why researchers decided to see if they could restore the same flexibility seen in a young brain to an older one.
The researchers transplanted a certain type of embryonic neuron into the brains of adult mice. More specifically, they transplanted neurons express GABA, a chief inhibitory neurotransmitter that aids in motor control, vision and many other cortical functions. These transplanted GABA neurons created a new period of heightened plasticity that allowed for the vigorous rewiring of the adult brain; in a sense, old brains had become young again.
In early life, normal visual experience is key to properly wiring connections in the visual system. Impaired vision during this time leads to a long-lasting visual deficit called amblyopia.
"Several weeks after transplantation, when the donor animal's visual system would be going through its critical period, the amblyopic mice started to see with normal visual activity," said Melissa Davis, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings raise hopes that GABA neuron transplantation might have future clinical applications. In addition, the research sheds light on the basic brain mechanisms that create critical periods.
"These experiments make clear that developmental mechanisms located within these GABA cells control the timing of the critical period," said Sunil Gandhi, one of the researchers.
The findings are published in the journal Neuron.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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First Posted: May 19, 2015 10:11 AM EDT
Scientists may have given old mice their youthful brains back. Researchers have managed to restore the flexibility of the juvenile brain to the adult brain.
During childhood, novel experiences rapidly mold new connections during critical periods of brain development. In the adult brain, though, connections are hard to change. That's why researchers decided to see if they could restore the same flexibility seen in a young brain to an older one.
The researchers transplanted a certain type of embryonic neuron into the brains of adult mice. More specifically, they transplanted neurons express GABA, a chief inhibitory neurotransmitter that aids in motor control, vision and many other cortical functions. These transplanted GABA neurons created a new period of heightened plasticity that allowed for the vigorous rewiring of the adult brain; in a sense, old brains had become young again.
In early life, normal visual experience is key to properly wiring connections in the visual system. Impaired vision during this time leads to a long-lasting visual deficit called amblyopia.
"Several weeks after transplantation, when the donor animal's visual system would be going through its critical period, the amblyopic mice started to see with normal visual activity," said Melissa Davis, one of the researchers, in a news release.
The findings raise hopes that GABA neuron transplantation might have future clinical applications. In addition, the research sheds light on the basic brain mechanisms that create critical periods.
"These experiments make clear that developmental mechanisms located within these GABA cells control the timing of the critical period," said Sunil Gandhi, one of the researchers.
The findings are published in the journal Neuron.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone