https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16282593
Abstract
Myelination
of the brain continues through childhood into adolescence and early
adulthood--the question is, Why? Two new articles provide intriguing
evidence that myelination may be an underappreciated mechanism of
activity-dependent nervous system plasticity: one study reported
increased myelination associated with extensive piano playing, another
indicated that rats have increased myelination of the corpus callosum
when raised in environments providing increased social interaction and
cognitive stimulation. These articles make it clear that
activity-dependent effects on myelination cannot be considered strictly a
developmental event. They raise the question of whether myelination is
an overlooked mechanism of activity-dependent plasticity, extending in
humans until at least age 30. It has been argued that regulating the
speed of conduction across long fiber tracts would have a major
influence on synaptic response, by coordinating the timing of afferent
input to maximize temporal summation. The increase in synaptic amplitude
could be as large as neurotransmitter-based mechanisms of plasticity,
such as LTP. These new findings raise a larger question: How did the
oligodendrocytes know they were practicing the piano or that their
environment was socially complex?
- PMID:
- 16282593
- PMCID:
- PMC1474837
- DOI:
- 10.1177/1073858405282304
- [Indexed for MEDLINE]
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