Cargando…

The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity

Since the brain was found to be somehow flexible, plastic, researchers worldwide have been trying to comprehend its fundamentals to better understand the brain itself, make predictions, disentangle the neurobiology of brain diseases, and finally propose up-to-date treatments. Neuroplasticity is simp...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria, Crestani, Ana Paula
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005965/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36575306
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01931-x
_version_ 1784905206393208832
author Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria
Crestani, Ana Paula
author_facet Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria
Crestani, Ana Paula
author_sort Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria
collection PubMed
description Since the brain was found to be somehow flexible, plastic, researchers worldwide have been trying to comprehend its fundamentals to better understand the brain itself, make predictions, disentangle the neurobiology of brain diseases, and finally propose up-to-date treatments. Neuroplasticity is simple as a concept, but extremely complex when it comes to its mechanisms. This review aims to bring to light an aspect about neuroplasticity that is often not given enough attention as it should, the fact that the brain’s ability to change would include its ability to disconnect synapses. So, neuronal shrinkage, decrease in spine density or dendritic complexity should be included within the concept of neuroplasticity as part of its mechanisms, not as an impairment of it. To that end, we extensively describe a variety of studies involving topics such as neurodevelopment, aging, stress, memory and homeostatic plasticity to highlight how the weakening and disconnection of synapses organically permeate the brain in so many ways as a good practice of its intrinsic physiology. Therefore, we propose to break down neuroplasticity into two sub-concepts, “upward neuroplasticity” for changes related to synaptic construction and “downward neuroplasticity” for changes related to synaptic deconstruction. With these sub-concepts, neuroplasticity could be better understood from a bigger landscape as a vector in which both directions could be taken for the brain to flexibly adapt to certain demands. Such a paradigm shift would allow a better understanding of the concept of neuroplasticity to avoid any data interpretation bias, once it makes clear that there is no morality with regard to the organic and physiological changes that involve dynamic biological systems as seen in the brain.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-10005965
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Nature Publishing Group UK
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-100059652023-03-12 The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria Crestani, Ana Paula Mol Psychiatry Review Article Since the brain was found to be somehow flexible, plastic, researchers worldwide have been trying to comprehend its fundamentals to better understand the brain itself, make predictions, disentangle the neurobiology of brain diseases, and finally propose up-to-date treatments. Neuroplasticity is simple as a concept, but extremely complex when it comes to its mechanisms. This review aims to bring to light an aspect about neuroplasticity that is often not given enough attention as it should, the fact that the brain’s ability to change would include its ability to disconnect synapses. So, neuronal shrinkage, decrease in spine density or dendritic complexity should be included within the concept of neuroplasticity as part of its mechanisms, not as an impairment of it. To that end, we extensively describe a variety of studies involving topics such as neurodevelopment, aging, stress, memory and homeostatic plasticity to highlight how the weakening and disconnection of synapses organically permeate the brain in so many ways as a good practice of its intrinsic physiology. Therefore, we propose to break down neuroplasticity into two sub-concepts, “upward neuroplasticity” for changes related to synaptic construction and “downward neuroplasticity” for changes related to synaptic deconstruction. With these sub-concepts, neuroplasticity could be better understood from a bigger landscape as a vector in which both directions could be taken for the brain to flexibly adapt to certain demands. Such a paradigm shift would allow a better understanding of the concept of neuroplasticity to avoid any data interpretation bias, once it makes clear that there is no morality with regard to the organic and physiological changes that involve dynamic biological systems as seen in the brain. Nature Publishing Group UK 2022-12-27 2023 /pmc/articles/PMC10005965/ /pubmed/36575306 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01931-x Text en © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Review Article
Diniz, Cassiano Ricardo Alves Faria
Crestani, Ana Paula
The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title_full The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title_fullStr The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title_full_unstemmed The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title_short The times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
title_sort times they are a-changin’: a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of “upward” and “downward” to neuroplasticity
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10005965/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36575306
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01931-x
work_keys_str_mv AT dinizcassianoricardoalvesfaria thetimestheyareachanginaproposalonhowbrainflexibilitygoesbeyondtheobvioustoincludetheconceptsofupwardanddownwardtoneuroplasticity
AT crestanianapaula thetimestheyareachanginaproposalonhowbrainflexibilitygoesbeyondtheobvioustoincludetheconceptsofupwardanddownwardtoneuroplasticity
AT dinizcassianoricardoalvesfaria timestheyareachanginaproposalonhowbrainflexibilitygoesbeyondtheobvioustoincludetheconceptsofupwardanddownwardtoneuroplasticity
AT crestanianapaula timestheyareachanginaproposalonhowbrainflexibilitygoesbeyondtheobvioustoincludetheconceptsofupwardanddownwardtoneuroplasticity