Why all play makes Jack a smart boy
Motor protein KIF1A essential for formation of new synapses and learning enhancement in enriched environment
It is known that experience of an enriched environment that provides many stimuli, including opportunities for communication and exercise, can improve memory and learning. Additionally, such an environment can have a beneficial effect on Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders.
© Nobutaka Hirokawa
Additionally, experience of an enriched environment brings about cellular changes in neurons, including synapse creation in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, and an increase in neurotrophins essential for neural function such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). However, the mechanism of these cellular and behavioral changes remained unknown.
Professor Nobutaka Hirokawa and his colleagues at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Medicine have shown for t...Academic Information
