Beta Rhythm (Music of the Mind)

I'm currently reading Joseph LeDoux's excellent book "Synaptic Self" - I highly recommend it. Chapter 3 of the book - "The Most Unaccountable Machinery" - does a splendid job of covering the basic working mechanisms of neurons, axons, dendrites and synapses, as well as the history behind some of the most important discoveries in neurobiology. The section covering inhibition was particularly enlightening for me, so I'd like to use this post to capture the key points on inhibition and the roles of Glutamate and GABA. In a previous post (Neurotransmitters - molecular messages) , the following definition of GABA was quoted from another excellent (and free!) book: " Discovering the Brain " by Sandra Ackerman: GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) often acts as a fast synaptic transmission inhibitor. Unlike dopamine or serotonin, which have diverse roles, GABA consistently acts as an “off” signal; the cerebellum, retina, and spinal cord all use this...

The picture at right is truly amazing. It overlays three color-coded images of dendritic spines in a living mouse's brain, collected 45 minutes apart. White regions indicate stable dendritic segments. Green shows spines that retracted and red shows spines that sprouted during the observation period. From A New Window to View How Experiences Rewire the Brain : Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have developed sophisticated microscopy techniques that permit them to watch how the brains of live mice are rewired as the mice learn to adapt to new experiences. Their studies show that rewiring of the brain involves the formation and elimination of synapses, the connections between neurons. The technique offers a new way to examine how learning can spur changes in the organization of neuronal connections in the brain. ... “Our first observations of the large-scale structure of neurons, their axons and dendrites, revealed that they were remarkably stable over a month.” Dendrites...

Recall from the previous post, that when a neuron's axon fires repeatedly the relevant genes (in that neuron) turn on, and the synapses that are holding the short-term memory when the synapse strengthening proteins find them, become, in effect, tattooed (from Making Memories Stick by R. Douglas Fields) It appears that this 'tattooing' process involves enzymes that cause actin to change the shape of the synapse, broadening it so that more receptors can be brought into play. Much progress has been made in the past 10 years or so to understand the details of what is going on. From ScienceDaily (Jun. 14, 2004) : Neuroscientists at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT show for the first time that storage of long-term memories depends on the size and shape of synapses among neurons in the outer part of the brain, the cerebral cortex. ... When an experience or a fact is repeated enough or elicits a powerful emotional response, it shifts from short- to long-term m...