Nature: Reprogramming brain cells may help the body make more flexible decisions.

September 18, 2020 // -- Avoiding handshakes when greeting, wearing masks on trains, sneezing on the elbows, etc., the prevalence of the COVID-19 outbreak dramatically shows that humans are getting rid of their habits Scientists from institutions such as the University of Zurich in Switzerland have found that reprogramming brain cells may help the body make decisions more flexibly, according to a recent study published in the international journal Nature.
photo source: Frank Brüderli; The brain's plasticity forms the basis for its ability, but scientists may not yet know the biological mechanism behind it, says Professor Fritjof Helmchen, a researcher at Universität Zürich, who has found that the prefrontal cortex of the brain, located behind the eye, may be able to reprogram neuron cells located in the sensory region of the body.
After studying the mice, the researchers simulated their re-learning process under controlled conditions and studied changes that occurred at a single neuron level during the study process, first training the mice to lick each time they came into contact with coarse sandpaper with their beards, while rewarding them with a glass of sucrose water, which was not the case when the mice rubbed their beards with fine sandpaper. Allowed to lick it, if the mice did so, they would be punished and make a slight annoying sound, which would change once the mice understood how to accomplish their tasks, and now, when the mice were studied with fine sandpaper instead of coarse sandpaper, the mice's rewards were sent, and after a little practice, the mice quickly learned this new pattern of opposite behavior.
During the training, scientists used molecular biology and imaging techniques to analyze the function of individual neurons in the cortical region of the associated brain, and the results showed that a group of brain cells in the pre-cortical region of the eye socket became unusually active during re-learning, with longer synapses that extended to the sensory regions in mice that processed tactile stimuli.
Cells in this region initially follow the original pattern of activity, but then adapt to the new environment, and when specific neurons in the preaintmental corties of the eye socket are deliberately inactive, the mouse body's ability to re-learn is impaired, and the activity of the neurons in the sensory region no longer exhibits active modification or alteration.
researcher Helmchen explains that this allows us to clarify the direct link between the pre-cortivity of the eye socket and the regions of the brain that are felt, and that some neurons can be re-mapped, and that the plasticity of these cells and the instructions they receive from the higher levels of the pre-cortivity of the eye socket seem to be important for the flexibility of the body's behavior and its ability to adapt to new environments.
Scientists have long known that the pre-cortique of the eye socket can participate in the decision-making process, to some extent to help us respond appropriately to the external environment in the first place, but the neural circuits behind its function are not yet clear to researchers.
this pattern of communication and control through the far end of the brain really makes researchers think it's amazing.
the researchers say that the basic processes observed in mouse bodies occur in similar ways in the human brain, and that it is important to deepen understanding of the complex brain processes involved in decision-making.
The results of this paper may hopefully help to better understand the molecular mechanisms that occur in multiple brain disorders, where the body's flexibility to make decisions is impaired, such as multiple forms of autism and schizophrenia, and the inability or suffering to adapt to one's own behavior may be a very serious problem for individuals.
() Original source: Banerjee, A., Parente, G., Teutsch, J. et al. Value-guided remapping of sensory cortex by lateral orbitofrontal cortex. Nature 585, 245-250 (2020). doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2704-z.