http://www.physorg.com/news113072200.html
Wrong link. I had many links open at once. Still, embarrasing.
Ask a Neuroscience Professor
- Thread starter Mark1031
- Start date
http://www.physorg.com/news113072200.html
Wrong link. I had many links open at once. Still, embarrasing.
http://www.physorg.com/news113072200.html
Wrong link. I had many links open at once. Still, embarrasing.
That mouse uses an inducible system (actually the thing I am most known for was developing this system) to express a toxin that kills neurons. They then show that implanting stem cells helps reverse the memory deficits.
I thought you'd know! 'Tis why I asked.
So, it's a transgenic breed?
The genes then kick in at a certain stage of life, to knock out those cells? What toxin?
So, it's a transgenic breed?
The genes then kick in at a certain stage of life, to knock out those cells? What toxin?
The transgenic mice use the tetracycline system for regulating gene expression. You can turn on or off any gene you put into the mouse (transgenically) by simply feeding the animals a tetracycline antibiotic. Here they turned on diptheria toxin to kill neurons in the adult hippocampus.
Dr Tiny
Warlord
That study is pretty neat. How did they identify that it was a neurotrophin being secreted by the stem cells, as opposed to some other factor?
angeleyes
mood indigo
How important are mirror-neurons for children growing up? I think of a guy like Kaspar Hauser....?
Fifty
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At what age, on average, do cognitive faculties start to diminish rather quickly?
How much decrease in cognitive faculties would a person 72 years old expect to experience within the next 4-8 years of their life???
How much decrease in cognitive faculties would a person 72 years old expect to experience within the next 4-8 years of their life???
Do kids learn languages easier because of social factors and practice or because of brain plasticity? If the latter, why does this specific plasticity seem to suddenly decrease at puberty? (As opposed to being able to learn other things as an adult.)
There was a newspaper article a couple months ago said "no".
Fifty
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll still wait for the word of the professor at a prestigious neuroscience institute over 2nd hand report from a newspaper of all things.
Perfection
The Great Head.
Who's 72, Fiddy?
Fifty
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perfection
The Great Head.
Really? You don't look a day over 13!
There is a normal age related decline in cognitive function beginning in middle age. It is highly variable and there are studies suggesting that mental activity can ameliorate some of the effects. A fairly high percentage of people will develop Alzheimer's disease in an age related manner. This and small infarcts lead to serious cognitive decline. DOn't know what the chances are exactly but double digits by 80 I think.
These are called critical periods. The brain has certain periods of enhanced plasticity. For example in development of vision there is an early critical period (0-5 yrs) where if you don't correct strabismus (cross eye) in kids the brain doesn;t wire properly and this effect can never be reversed. We don't know the molecular mechanisms for defining critical periods.
Don't know
Switched receptor subunits, I think? For example, I know that that Glu Receptors have one of their subunits changed out during development, which tightens the period in which Hebbian learning can take place.
The Planum temporale (a critical brain area for language learning) grows and develops very specifically in humans, and is probably the reason why we have such an excellent grasp of language. It probably undergoes a receptor subunit change during early childhood, reducing its plasticity. After that period, learning a language becomes an exercise in translation instead of an integration of sensory inputs with their associated words.
I know this story quite well and it is just that a "story", We do not know the mechanisms of critical period delineation.
In that we don't know what causes the subunits to switch out?
Similar threads
