The mammalian neocortex contains many distinct inhibitory neuronal populations to balance excitatory neurotransmission. A correct excitation/inhibition equilibrium is crucial for normal brain development, functioning, and controlling lifelong cortical plasticity. Knowledge about how the inhibitory network contributes to brain plasticity however remains incomplete. Somatostatin- (SST-) interneur...

The basal forebrain cholinergic system has been implicated in the reorganization of adult cortical sensory and motor representations under many, but not all, experimental conditions. It is still not fully understood which types of plasticity require the cholinergic system and which do not. In this study, we examine the hypothesis that the basal forebrain cholinergic system is required for elici...

PURPOSE Converging evidence from animals and humans indicate that the primary auditory cortex is continuously reshaped in an experience-dependent way. Reorganisation in primary auditory cortex can be observed at the level of receptive fields, topographic maps and brain activations measured with neuroimaging methods. Several neuromodulatory systems were shown to contribute to such an experience-...

In young animals, monocular deprivation leads to an ocular dominance shift, whereas in adults after the critical period there is no such shift. Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs) are components of the extracellular matrix (ECM) inhibitory for axonal sprouting. We tested whether the developmental maturation of the ECM is inhibitory for experience-dependent plasticity in the visual cortex...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is predominantly a clinical problem of young persons, resulting in chronic cognitive and behavioral deficits. Specifically, the physiological response to a diffuse biomechanical injury in a maturing brain can clearly alter normal neuroplasticity. To properly evaluate and investigate developmental TBI requires an understanding of normal principles of cerebral maturat...

Recent research using magnetic resonance imaging has documented changes in the adult human brain's grey matter structure induced by alterations in experiential demands. We review this research and relate it to models of brain plasticity from related strands of research, such as work on animal models. This allows us to generate recommendations and predictions for future research that may advance...

Progressive loss of plasticity during development prevents refined circuits from regressing to an immature state and is thought to depend on maturation of GABAergic inhibition. For example, a gradual reduction in size of visual receptive fields (RFs) occurs in the superior colliculus (SC) during development. Maintenance of the refined state throughout adulthood requires early light exposure. He...

Experience-dependent plasticity can be induced in the barrel cortex by removing all but one whisker, leading to potentiation of the neuronal response to the spared whisker. To determine whether this form of potentiation depends on synaptic plasticity, we studied long-term potentiation (LTP) and sensory-evoked potentials in the barrel cortex of alpha-calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase I...

Although brain plasticity is greatest in the first few years of life, the brain continues to be shaped by experience throughout adulthood. Advances in fMRI have enabled us to examine the plasticity of large-scale networks using blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) correlations measured at rest. Resting-state functional connectivity analysis makes it possible to measure task-independent changes i...

The study of brain plasticity has tended to focus on the synapse, where well-described activity-dependent mechanisms are known to play a key role in learning and memory. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that plasticity occurs beyond the synapse. This review focuses on the emerging concept of white matter plasticity. For example, there is growing evidence, both from animal studies and ...