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Abstract

Human brain imaging has identified structural changes in gray and white matter that occur with learning. However, ascribing imaging measures to underlying cellular and molecular events is challenging. Here we review human neuroimaging findings of structural plasticity and then discuss cellular and molecular level changes that could underlie observed imaging effects. Greater dialog between researchers in these different fields would help to facilitate cross-talk between cellular and systems level explanations of how learning sculpts brain structure.

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The BDNF val66met Polymorphism Affects Activity-Dependent Secretion of BDNF and Human Memory and Hippocampal Function

Michael Egan, Masami Kojima, Joseph Callicott … (2003)

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Small-world anatomical networks in the human brain revealed by cortical thickness from MRI.

Yong Zheng He, Zhang J. Chen, Alan C. Evans (2007)

An important issue in neuroscience is the characterization for the underlying architectures of complex brain networks. However, little is known about the network of anatomical connections in the human brain. Here, we investigated large-scale anatomical connection patterns of the human cerebral cortex using cortical thickness measurements from magnetic resonance images. Two areas were considered anatomically connected if they showed statistically significant correlations in cortical thickness and we constructed the network of such connections using 124 brains from the International Consortium for Brain Mapping database. Significant short- and long-range connections were found in both intra- and interhemispheric regions, many of which were consistent with known neuroanatomical pathways measured by human diffusion imaging. More importantly, we showed that the human brain anatomical network had robust small-world properties with cohesive neighborhoods and short mean distances between regions that were insensitive to the selection of correlation thresholds. Additionally, we also found that this network and the probability of finding a connection between 2 regions for a given anatomical distance had both exponentially truncated power-law distributions. Our results demonstrated the basic organizational principles for the anatomical network in the human brain compatible with previous functional networks studies, which provides important implications of how functional brain states originate from their structural underpinnings. To our knowledge, this study provides the first report of small-world properties and degree distribution of anatomical networks in the human brain using cortical thickness measurements.

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White matter in learning, cognition and psychiatric disorders.

R. Douglas Fields (2008)

White matter is the brain region underlying the gray matter cortex, composed of neuronal fibers coated with electrical insulation called myelin. Previously of interest in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, myelin is attracting new interest as an unexpected contributor to a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. This is stimulating research into myelin involvement in normal cognitive function, learning and IQ. Myelination continues for decades in the human brain; it is modifiable by experience, and it affects information processing by regulating the velocity and synchrony of impulse conduction between distant cortical regions. Cell-culture studies have identified molecular mechanisms regulating myelination by electrical activity, and myelin also limits the critical period for learning through inhibitory proteins that suppress axon sprouting and synaptogenesis.

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PubMed ID:: 22426254

PMC ID:: 3660656

DOI:: 10.1038/nn.3045

ScienceOpen disciplines: Chemistry

Keywords: Animals,Brain,cytology,physiology,Cerebral Cortex,Humans,Learning,Nerve Fibers, Myelinated,Neurogenesis,Neuroimaging,methods,Neuronal Plasticity

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Chemistry

Keywords: Animals, Brain, cytology, physiology, Cerebral Cortex, Humans, Learning, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Neurogenesis, Neuroimaging, methods, Neuronal Plasticity

Plasticity in gray and white: neuroimaging changes in brain structure during learning.

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Most cited references 78

The BDNF val66met Polymorphism Affects Activity-Dependent Secretion of BDNF and Human Memory and Hippocampal Function

Small-world anatomical networks in the human brain revealed by cortical thickness from MRI.

White matter in learning, cognition and psychiatric disorders.

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