Washington, Dec 4 (IANS) Our ability to absorb new information or to retain lifelong memories seems to lie in the minute junctions where nerve cells communicate, says a new study.
New York University School of Medicine (NYUSM) researchers discovered that a delicate balancing act occurs in the brain where nerve cell (neurons) connections are continually being formed, eliminated and maintained.

This feat allows the brain to integrate new information without jeopardising already established memories, the study suggests.

Using a powerful optical imaging technique called two-photon microscopy, researchers led by Wen-Biao Gan viewed the precise changes that take place at synapses, the junctions where nerve cells communicate, in the wake of being exposed to a novel situation.

New knowledge, explains Gan, NYUSM associate professor of physiology and neuroscience prompts alterations in the dendritic spines, the knobby protrusions along the branching ends of nerve cells. With learning, spines are gained and others lost.

“We’ve known for a long time that the brain remodels after learning,” says Gan. “Our studies show that the brain does this in two ways: by adding a tiny fraction of new connections to the brain’s neural circuitry and eliminating old ones,” he added, according to a NYUSM release.

The study gives a clue as to how it is possible for humans, who have hundreds of thousands of spines on one neuron, to live each day, constantly experiencing and learning new things, without losing existing memories. “The brain is a dynamic and stable organ,” says Gan.

The study was published online in Nature.