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| spines on a pyramidal neuron (source) |
But how would they grow exactly?
Using transcranial two-photon microscopy (a window into the brain of a living mouse), Fu et al. (2012) have caught images of neural learning in action.
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| A window into the mouse brain (source) |
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| learning how to eat pasta makes mouse cortical spines grow (source) |
They found that spines grow during learning (not too surprising). But spines also grow when the mouse is exposed to a motor-enriched environment (like a mouse-sized playground).
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| Fu et al. 2012 (Figure 2C+D) |
The interesting difference between learning a specific task rather than just playing is that the spines grow in distinct clusters when the mice are taught a learning task. C shows the total spine growth, while D shows the proportion of clustered spines to total spines. Reach only means the mice were only taught the reaching task, and cross-training means they were taught both the reaching task and the pasta handling task.
The authors explain two possible functions for these spine clusters:
"Positioning multiple synapses between a pair of neurons in close proximity allows nonlinear summation of synaptic strength, and potentially increases the dynamic range of synaptic transmission well beyond what can be achieved by random positioning of the same number of synapses."Meaning spines that are clustered and receive inputs from the same neuron have more power to influence the cell than spines further apart.
"Alternatively, clustered new spines may synapse with distinct (but presumably functionally related) presynaptic partners. In this case, they could potentially integrate inputs from different neurons nonlinearly and increase the circuit’s computational power. "Meaning that maybe the spines don't receive input from the same neuron, but are clustered so they can integrate signals across neurons more powerfully.
And of course...
"Distinguishing between these two possibilities would probably require circuit reconstruction by electron microscopy following in vivo imaging to reveal the identities of presynaptic partners of newly formed spines."More work is needed to figure out what is really going on.
© TheCellularScale
Fu M, Yu X, Lu J, & Zuo Y (2012). Repetitive motor learning induces coordinated formation of clustered dendritic spines in vivo. Nature, 483 (7387), 92-5 PMID: 22343892
The most amazing feat. of synaptogenesis is the time scale. Afer only one hour of motor skill learning, new spines can already be observed (by the same group, Xu et al. 2009 and another relevant paper in the same issue of Nature Yang et al. 2009). It is hard to reconcile this concept of repetition with the very short time scale of the effect.
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1. Xu, T. et al. Rapid formation and selective stabilization of synapses for enduring motor memories. Nature 462, 915–9 (2009).
2. Yang, G., Pan, F. & Gan, W.-B. Stably maintained dendritic spines are associated with lifelong memories. Nature 462, 920–4 (2009).
Great point. But what I didn't mention was that they found these clusters ONLY in the early part of learning the task. Later there were not so many clusters of new spines indicating that it is a stepping stone toward full memory formation.
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