Diffusion MRI of Structural Brain Plasticity Induced by a Learning and Memory Task
Open Access
- 20 June 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Public Library of Science (PLoS) in PLOS ONE
- Vol. 6 (6), e20678
- https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020678
Abstract
Activity-induced structural remodeling of dendritic spines and glial cells was recently proposed as an important factor in neuroplasticity and suggested to accompany the induction of long-term potentiation (LTP). Although T1 and diffusion MRI have been used to study structural changes resulting from long-term training, the cellular basis of the findings obtained and their relationship to neuroplasticity are poorly understood. Here we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine the microstructural manifestations of neuroplasticity in rats that performed a spatial navigation task. We found that DTI can be used to define the selective localization of neuroplasticity induced by different tasks and that this process is age-dependent in cingulate cortex and corpus callosum and age-independent in the dentate gyrus. We relate the observed DTI changes to the structural plasticity that occurs in astrocytes and discuss the potential of MRI for probing structural neuroplasticity and hence indirectly localizing LTP.Keywords
This publication has 43 references indexed in Scilit:
- Experience-dependent structural synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brainNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009
- Evidence for Plasticity in White‐Matter Tracts of Patients with Chronic Broca's Aphasia Undergoing Intense Intonation‐based Speech TherapyAnnals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2009
- Activity-dependent structural plasticityBrain Research Reviews, 2009
- White matter plasticity in the corticospinal tract of musicians: A diffusion tensor imaging studyNeuroImage, 2009
- LTD Induction Causes Morphological Changes of Presynaptic Boutons and Reduces Their Contacts with SpinesNeuron, 2008
- Training-induced structural changes in the adult human brainBehavioural Brain Research, 2008
- Structural Plasticity: Rewiring the BrainCurrent Biology, 2007
- Dendritic Plasticity in the Adult NeocortexThe Neuroscientist, 2006
- The basis of anisotropic water diffusion in the nervous system – a technical reviewNMR in Biomedicine, 2002
- Diffusion‐tensor MRI: theory, experimental design and data analysis – a technical reviewNMR in Biomedicine, 2002