The brain is the most complex organ in the body, and more details about its function and plasticity are being discovered every day. Although the scientific community assumed that certain areas of the brain form in the first years of life, and remain static in adult life, a study has banished this claim regarding one area of the brain: the primary visual cortex ( VI ). According to the research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience , the brain area that processes and interprets visual information continues to develop until age 36.
“Our idea that the sensory areas of the brain end up evolving in childhood is completely wrong, ” says study author Kathryn Murphy, who hoped to find evidence that the cortex reached maturity by the age of 5 or 6. just as previous animal studies had predicted. The idea had to be rejected after analyzing the data of 30 people between the ages of 20 and 80. A surprise for Murphy and his team, from McMaster University in Canada.
The primary visual cortex is responsible for processing the information that comes from the retinas , and then sends it to another 20 specialized areas, a work of about 280 million neurons. In turn, there are certain proteins that drive the actions of neurons in the visual cortex at the back of the brain. According to the study, these proteins shape the action of these neurons for years , approximately, until the age of 36. “There are still large gaps in the way we understand the brain,” acknowledges the researcher.
The discovery of the plasticity of the primary visual cortex can open therapeutic avenues in some vision pathologies ; for example, the lazy eye, banishing the idea that only children can respond to corrective therapies. In addition, it is possible that this finding will lead to the discovery of other brain areas that, such as the visual cortex, are more plastic than previously thought .
References:
Kathryn M. Murphy. Development of glutamatergic proteins in human visual cortex across the lifespan. Journal of Neuroscience. (2017) 2304-16; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2304-16.2017
