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Salk Institute If you’ve ever read an article about the “best ways to boost neuroplasticity” or scrolled through the “top 10 daily habits to rewire your brain,” you’ve already gotten a peek into an important and growing research area.
If you’ve ever read an article about the “best ways to boost neuroplasticity” or scrolled through the “top 10 daily habits to rewire your brain,” you’ve already gotten a peek into an important and growing research area.
The brain’s ability to rewire itself is called neuroplasticity, and your ability to learn, make new memories, and recover from injury all depend on it. But like many things in biology, it’s all about balance—finding that sweet spot between too much and too little.
So how does your brain know how flexible to be, and how does that flexibility fluctuate throughout your life? What cells, genes, and molecules control the stability of your brain circuitry? Could we one day use this information to enhance our neuroplasticity in adulthood and help slow brain aging?
In Salk’s Year of Brain Health, we’re exploring the biology behind long-term cognitive health and finding practical interventions to prevent cognitive decline. When it comes to topics such as neuroplasticity, we’re digging deep to understand their complex mechanisms so that future therapeutic and lifestyle interventions can be as effective and personalized as possible.
That all starts with studies such as those being done by Salk neuroscientist Nicola Allen, PhD. She and her talented team of researchers are revealing the important role of astrocytes in regulating neuroplasticity. These star-shaped brain cells were once overshadowed by their neuronal neighbors, but new research shows they play a critical part in adjusting the flexibility of the surrounding neural circuits. The more we understand how these processes evolve throughout our lives, the better and longer we’ll be able to maintain that sweet spot of cognitive health.
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