brain plasticity: how exercise and experience grows neurons (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, September 06, 2015, 22:22 (3157 days ago) @ David Turell

Another article covering new research:-http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-power-of-brains-to-keep-growing-1441293338-"To boost my memory, I am going for a run. My dogs' memories will get a boost, too, as they bound through the woods chasing squirrels. Over the past two decades, neuroscientists have discovered that new nerve cells (neurons) are constantly being born in one tiny area of the brain crucial for learning and memory—and that physical exercise promotes the numbers of these newborn neurons.-***-"Apart from exercise and enrichment, other factors can enhance the progression from neuron birth to full installation in the circuitry—among them, surprisingly, antidepressants such as Prozac. Berries, grapes, chocolate and tea—all rich in molecules called flavonoids—have been linked to improved spatial learning behavior in rodents and humans. On the other hand, stress suppresses the proliferation of new neurons, as do alcohol and high doses of nicotine. -"Much of the data derive from rodents and nonhuman primates because the newborn neurons have to be identified by chemical tag and then counted in the postmortem brain. But Kirsty L. Spalding of Sweden's Karolinska Institute and an international team of scientists were able to exploit an unusual opportunity for quantifying numbers of newborn neurons in humans. -"As they reported in the journal Cell in June 2013, nuclear-bomb tests between 1945 and 1963 had increased levels of the carbon isotope 14 in the atmosphere. Dividing cells require carbon, so the DNA in dividing cells, including those producing new neurons, took up increased amounts of carbon 14. Based on this knowledge, the team looked at brains post mortem of people in the vicinity of the bomb tests. They found evidence for newborn neurons, but only in the dentate gyrus, and calculated that about 700 a day are added."