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Automatic traslation
Search the siteKnown neural and genetic plasticity mechanisms in humans
17th July 2019
This is part of the series Work-in-Progress, meaning that it will be indefinitely updated.
Mechanisms for neuroplasticity
- Network level:
- Cortical remapping
- Single cell level:
- Synaptic plasticity
- Non-synaptic plasticity
- Neurogenesis:
- Mainly in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb, possibly also the cerebellum
- Takes place in adulthood
- Promoted by light physical exercise
- Neurotrophins (proteins that induce the survival, development, and function of neurons) include:
- Nerve growth factor (NGF)
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
- Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3)
- Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4)
- Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate ester, DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S)
Mechanisms for genetic plasticity
- Nucleotide mutations
- Downregulation and upregulation (of RNA or protein)
- Epigenetic mechanisms:
- DNA methylation
- On cytosine or adenosine (in mammals, it happens almost exclusively on CpG sites)
- On cytosines in the hippocampus, methylation and demethylation is important in learning and memory
- In a gene promoter, it typically represses gene transcription
- Histone methylation
- In the hippocampus, histone methylation assists in the formation of memory
- Histone acetylation
- Posttranscriptional mechanisms of regulation through small, noncoding RNAs
- Chromatin remodeling
- TE exaptations
- At the level of post-transcriptional modifications:
- RNA processing:
- Alternative splicing
- Alternative polyadenylation
- RNA editing
