What separates the strong from weak among connections in the brain
To work at all, the nervous system needs its cells, or neurons, to connect and converse in a language of electrical impulses and chemical neurotransmitters. For the brain to be able to learn and adapt, it needs the connections, called synapses, to be able to strengthen or weaken. A new study by neuroscientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory helps to explain why strong synapses are stronger, and how they get that way. By pinpointing the properties of synaptic strength and how they develop, the study could help scientists better understand how synapses might be made weaker or stronger. Deficiencies in synaptic development and change, or plasticity, have a role in many brain diseases such as autism or intellectual disability, says senior author Troy Littleton, the Menicon Professor of Neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Biology. “The importance of our study is figuring out what are the molecular features of really...