Neurobiology can be quite a difficult to subject to wrap our minds around, especially considering that every individual's neurochemistry is unique unto itself. But with a bit of persistance, four years to be exact, and a bit of innovative technology in the field of biophotonics researchers with NYU's Langone Medical Center have finally revealed just how brains sort, store and process information in the process of learning new tasks.
Utilizing mice as their test subjects, who were taught to run forward and backward on a tiny treadmill, NYU Langone neuroscientists sought to track neuronal activity while the mice learned their new motor tasks. In the new study published today in the journal Nature, the researchers tested activity in the dendritic nerve branches, tracking neural impulses. What the researchers found may not have been true "lightning striking", but it sure did look like it on the screen. Steep calcium ion spikes were revealed to strengthen and weaken the connections between neurons, and on the screen they appeared as if tiny "lightning bolts" in the dendrites. Cleverly enough, while the calcium ion spikes may not be quite as electric as the researchers expected, the influx of the ions are a hallmark of learning new information, connecting neurological pathways in the process of learning new abilities.
"We believe our study provides important insights into how the brain deals with vast amounts of information continuously as the brain learns new tasks," lead author of the study, Wen-Biao Gan says.
"We have long wondered how the brain can store new information continuously throughout life without disrupting previously acquired memories. We now know that the generation of calcium spikes in separate branches of nerve cells is critical for the brain to encode and store large quantities of information without interfering with each other."
Focusing particularly on the development of motor functions, the researchers believe that their study has many potential practical correlations that may one day help explain neural circuitry deficiencies in disorders such as schizophrenia and even autism. If the researchers are able to find malfunctioning calcium ion spikes in animal models of these brain disorders in the near future, they may just find the answers they're looking for in humans as well. And with this information the researchers hope to one day be able to strengthen the connections between neurons as well, to heighten the development and retention of vital cognitive skills.
