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ISSN 0006 2979, Biochemistry (Moscow), 2017, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 237 242. Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2017. Published in Russian in Biokhimiya, 2017, Vol. 82, No. 3, pp. 365 371.
Molecular Mechanisms of Neuroplasticity: An Expanding Universe
N. V. Gulyaeva
Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117485 Moscow, Russia; E mail: [email protected]
Received November 28, 2016
AbstractBiochemical processes in synapses and other neuronal compartments underlie neuroplasticity (functional and structural alterations in the brain enabling adaptation to the environment, learning, memory, as well as rehabilitation after brain injury). This basic molecular level of brain plasticity covers numerous specific proteins (enzymes, receptors, structur al proteins, etc.) participating in many coordinated and interacting signal and metabolic processes, their modulation form ing a molecular basis for brain plasticity. The articles in this issue are focused on different hot points in the research area of biochemical mechanisms supporting neuroplasticity.
DOI: 10.1134/S0006297917030014
Keywords: brain, neuroplasticity, synaptic plasticity, proteins, enzymes, receptors, biochemical mechanisms, signal trans duction
This issue of Biochemistry (Moscow) is dedicated to molecular mechanisms of neuroplasticity, one of the most cosmic and the same time vague concepts of contempo rary neurobiology. The term plasticity, first applied to the brain in 1890 by William James [1] and then used as neural plasticity in 1948 by Jerzy Konorski [2], has become a kind of umbrella term covering changes to the brain structure and function throughout the life course. Neuroplasticity (brain plasticity or neural plasticity), a remarkable capacity of the brain to change and adapt, implies physiological changes in the brain resulting from interactions of the organism with the environment. This dynamic process allowing to adapt to different experi ences and to learn is also a factor in recovery from brain injury, since rehabilitation is aimed at rebuilding connec tions between neurons, rewiring of the brain. The specificity of brain organization (multiformity of cells, geographic nature of neuronal cells outspreading sprouts at relatively long distances, communal character of neurons unable to survive by themselves, without connections with other neurons) and the key role of brain in animal survival explain the necessity of plasticity pro viding for adaptive changes in brain structure and func tions. On the other hand, numerous brain structures and nuclei, as well as multiple interactions...