The ability of the adult brain to form new memories and absorb new information may be explained by these immature connections. MIT neuroscientists have found that the adult brain is filled with millions of 'silent synapses' — immature connections between neurons that are not active until they are n
Scientists had previously believed that silent synapses were only present during early development.
MIT researchers have discovered that the adult mouse brain contains millions of silent synapses, located on tiny structures called filopodia. Credit: Dimitra Vardalaki and Mark Harnett However, some neuroscientists have proposed that silent synapses may persist into adulthood and help with the formation of new memories. Evidence for this has been seen in animal models of addiction, which is thought to be largely a disorder of aberrant learning.has also proposed that neurons must display a wide range of different plasticity mechanisms to explain how brains can both efficiently learn new things and retain them in long-term memory.
Filopodia, thin membrane protrusions that extend from dendrites, have been seen before, but neuroscientists didn’t know exactly what they do. That’s partly because filopodia are so tiny that they are difficult to see using traditional imaging techniques. The researchers also showed that they could “unsilence” these synapses by combining glutamate release with an electrical current coming from the body of the neuron. This combined stimulation leads to accumulation of AMPA receptors in the silent synapse, allowing it to form a strong connection with the nearby axon that is releasing glutamate.
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