Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester New York 14627-0268, USA.
J Neurosci. 2010 Nov 10;30(45):14964-71. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4812-10.2010.
Adult brain plasticity, although possible, remains more restricted in scope than during development. Here, we address conditions under which circuit rewiring may be facilitated in the mature brain. At a cellular and molecular level, adult plasticity is actively limited. Some of these "brakes" are structural, such as perineuronal nets or myelin, which inhibit neurite outgrowth. Others are functional, acting directly upon excitatory-inhibitory balance within local circuits. Plasticity in adulthood can be induced either by lifting these brakes through invasive interventions or by exploiting endogenous permissive factors, such as neuromodulators. Using the amblyopic visual system as a model, we discuss genetic, pharmacological, and environmental removal of brakes to enable recovery of vision in adult rodents. Although these mechanisms remain largely uncharted in the human, we consider how they may provide a biological foundation for the remarkable increase in plasticity after action video game play by amblyopic subjects.
成人脑的可塑性虽然存在，但范围比发育过程更为有限。在这里，我们将探讨在成熟大脑中促进回路重连的条件。在细胞和分子水平上，成人的可塑性受到积极的限制。其中一些“刹车”是结构性的，例如神经周围网或髓鞘，它们抑制神经突生长。另一些是功能性的，直接作用于局部回路中的兴奋-抑制平衡。成年后的可塑性可以通过侵入性干预来解除这些刹车，或者通过利用内源性许可因素，如神经调质来诱导。我们使用弱视视觉系统作为模型，讨论了通过遗传、药理学和环境手段去除刹车以恢复成年啮齿动物视力的方法。尽管这些机制在人类中还很大程度上未被探索，但我们考虑了它们如何为弱视患者在玩动作视频游戏后出现的显著可塑性增加提供生物学基础。
