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Myelin Suppresses Plasticity In The Mature Brain

Date:
September 30, 2005
Source:
Yale University
Summary:
Yale School of Medicine researchers report in Science this week genetic evidence for the hypothesis that myelination, or formation of a protective sheath around a nerve fiber, consolidates neural circuitry by suppressing plasticity in the mature brain.
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New Haven, Conn.-Yale School of Medicine researchers report inScience this week genetic evidence for the hypothesis that myelination,or formation of a protective sheath around a nerve fiber, consolidatesneural circuitry by suppressing plasticity in the mature brain.

This finding has implications for research on restoring mobility topeople who have lost motor functions due to spinal cord injury,multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease, and other central nervoussystem disorders.

"The failure of surviving neurons to reestablish functionalconnection is most obvious after spinal cord injury, but limited nervecell regeneration and plasticity is central to a range of neurologicaldisorders, including stroke, head trauma, multiple sclerosis, andneurodegenerative disease," said senior author Stephen Strittmatter,professor in the Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology. "Recoveryof motor function after serious damage to the mature brain isfacilitated by structural and synaptic plasticity."

Strittmatter's laboratory studies how myelin in the centralnervous system physically limits axonal growth and regeneration aftertraumatic and ischemic injury, when blood supply is cut off. Aphysiological role for the myelin inhibitor pathway has not beendefined.

Blocking vision in one eye normally alters ocular dominance inthe cortex of the brain only during a critical developmental period, or20 to 32 days postnatal in mice. Strittmatter's lab, working incollaboration with Nigel Daw, M.D., professor of ophthalmology andneuroscience, and his group, found that mutations in the Nogo-66receptor (NgR) affect plasticity of ocular dominance. In mice withaltered NgR, plasticity during the critical period is normal, but itcontinues abnormally so that ocular dominance later in development issimilar to the plasticity of juvenile stages.

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Science (September 30, 2005)


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Materials provided by Yale University. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Yale University. "Myelin Suppresses Plasticity In The Mature Brain." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 September 2005. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050930081337.htm>.
Yale University. (2005, September 30). Myelin Suppresses Plasticity In The Mature Brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050930081337.htm
Yale University. "Myelin Suppresses Plasticity In The Mature Brain." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050930081337.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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