Adult myelination: wrapping up neuronal plasticity

Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.

The myelin sheath is a multilayered lipid and protein covering that insulates the axon of a neuron, enhancing the speed of nerve impulse conduction. Axons without this sheath are referred to as unmyelinated. Two types of neuroglia, Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) are responsible for producing myelin sheaths.
Schwann cells begin to form myelin sheaths around axons during fetal development. They wrap around a small...

In the CNS, neurogenesis, the birth of new neurons from stem cells, is limited to the hippocampus in adults. In other regions of the brain and spinal cord, neurogenesis is almost non-existent due to inhibitory influences from neuroglia, especially oligodendrocytes, and the absence of growth-stimulating cues. The myelin produced by oligodendrocytes in the CNS inhibits neuronal regeneration. Furthermore, astrocytes proliferate rapidly after neuronal damage, forming scar tissue that physically...

Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTP is the process of synaptic strengthening that occurs over time between pre- and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic strengthening of LTP works in opposition to the synaptic weakening of long-term depression (LTD) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.