The new scenarios made possible by the results of an international research, published in Journal of Neuroscience. Demonstrated for the first time the possibility of non-invasively exploring specific circuits of neurons responsible for different forms of memory. The result of the collaboration between Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, CTO and neuroscientists from UK, Japan and Germany
Rome, 26 November 2014 - Arriving new neurophysiological techniques able to evaluate the function of brain circuits whose malfunctioning causes diseases such as dementia. In the future, these techniques could be the basis for more effective neuro-rehabilitation programs.
It is the result of an international study, published in the journal Journal of Neuroscience. The research saw the participation of the Prof. Vincenzo Di Lazzaro, Director of the Chair of Neurology atUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, together with other neuroscientists from the UK, Japan, Germany and the Prof. Paolo Mazzone, neurosurgeon of the CTO of Rome.
For the first time in the world the researchers were able to evaluate the functioning of complex circuits of the cerebral cortex, composed of more than 20 types of neurons, and which are involved in memory functions. It has also been shown that these brain circuits, which supervise different forms of learning, especially of the motor type, they are functionally independent, even if closely connected at the anatomical level.
"Using transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques, a type of superficial, non-invasive brain stimulation – has explained Di Lazzaro – we managed to demonstrate the existence of independent circuits of neurons even in a very small area of the human brain. Although spatially close, these circuits can be selectively activated. Modulating them, therefore, through magnetic stimulation, it is possible to obtain effects on specific forms of cerebral plasticity, i.e. the set of changes in the cerebral cortex that occur during learning and which are the basis, for example, of the mnemonic function".
In addition to the development of new forms of neuro-rehabilitation, the effects will be applicable to various fields of neuroscience: from psychology to the study of learning processes. With the possibility, in the background, of the use of new and more effective methods of non-invasive activation of brain circuits related to mnemonic functions. In this way, one could get to enhance their function in patients with severely disabling forms of memory impairment, such as dementia, for which there is currently no effective treatment. These are pathologies whose number, with the general aging of the population, is destined to grow considerably in the next twenty years. According to the most recent data released by the Italian Society of Neurology, memory impairment currently affects around 7 percent of the general population. over-65, to reach up to 30 percent of the over-s.
