Univ. alum: motor protein used in learning
Neuroscientists have known for some time that alterations in the communication network of neurons in the brain must occur for learning to happen. That means that somehow neurons have to change the way they communicate and receive signals so that the information you crammed for a test last night can stick in your mind better than what you ate for dinner two weeks ago.
Much research has been done with the goal of trying to elucidate the exact mechanisms by which learning occurs.
One team in particular, led by Michael Ehlers, a Hopkins alumnus as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher and neurobiologist at Duke University, has begun to shed a more focused light on this exact mechanism.
Ehlers and his team of researchers have proposed that there are certain proteins within neurons, called myosin Vb, that help bring the building blocks needed to strengthen memory to the synapse for construction and strengthening of the synapse.
In order for learning to occur, synapses must be strengthened. Synapses, as the communication points between different neurons, can be strengthened in a number of ways, but most involve one cell becoming increasingly powerful as a messenger or one cell becoming increasingly good at receiving a message.
Ehlers's team in particular has taken to studying the latter, in which the postsynaptic cell, the one that receives the message, gets better and better at picking up the signal. "One of the main ways that brain circuits are alerted as we learn and remember is by adding new neurotransmitter receptors to synapses, the specialized contact sites between brain cells," Ehlers explained.
With a greater number of receptors, the cell can more easily detect chemicals in the synapse, called neurotransmitters, that pass the signal along. The question remains, however, as to how neurons increase the number of receptors present.
Neuroscientists believe that one specific mechanism exists in which there is a certain number of receptor molecules in a cell that will be inserted or removed from the cell surface as needed. Furthermore, when the receptors are not in use, they can be stored in intracellular "lockers" until there is a need for them. These intracellular storage spaces are called endosomes.
Much research has been done with the goal of trying to elucidate the exact mechanisms by which learning occurs.
One team in particular, led by Michael Ehlers, a Hopkins alumnus as well as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher and neurobiologist at Duke University, has begun to shed a more focused light on this exact mechanism.
Ehlers and his team of researchers have proposed that there are certain proteins within neurons, called myosin Vb, that help bring the building blocks needed to strengthen memory to the synapse for construction and strengthening of the synapse.
In order for learning to occur, synapses must be strengthened. Synapses, as the communication points between different neurons, can be strengthened in a number of ways, but most involve one cell becoming increasingly powerful as a messenger or one cell becoming increasingly good at receiving a message.
Ehlers's team in particular has taken to studying the latter, in which the postsynaptic cell, the one that receives the message, gets better and better at picking up the signal. "One of the main ways that brain circuits are alerted as we learn and remember is by adding new neurotransmitter receptors to synapses, the specialized contact sites between brain cells," Ehlers explained.
With a greater number of receptors, the cell can more easily detect chemicals in the synapse, called neurotransmitters, that pass the signal along. The question remains, however, as to how neurons increase the number of receptors present.
Neuroscientists believe that one specific mechanism exists in which there is a certain number of receptor molecules in a cell that will be inserted or removed from the cell surface as needed. Furthermore, when the receptors are not in use, they can be stored in intracellular "lockers" until there is a need for them. These intracellular storage spaces are called endosomes.
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