While this is still a long way off, synaptic pruning may represent an interesting target for treatments for people with mental disorders. More research is needed to confirm the hypothesis that abnormal synaptic pruning contributes to schizophrenia. Then, a large study analyzed post-mortem brain tissue and DNA from more than 100,000 people and found that people with schizophrenia have a specific gene variant that may be associated with an acceleration of the process of synaptic pruning. The theory is that schizophrenic brains are “over-pruned,” and this over-pruning is caused by genetic mutations that affect the synaptic pruning process.įor example, when researchers looked at images of the brains of people with mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, they found that people with mental disorders had fewer synapses in the prefrontal region compared to the brains of people without mental disorders. Research that looks at the relationship between synaptic pruning and schizophrenia is still in the early stages. Interestingly, during this time the pruning mostly occurs in the brain’s prefontal cortex, which is the part of the brain heavily involved in the decision-making processes, personality development, and critical thinking.ĭoes synaptic pruning explain the onset of schizophrenia? Early adulthoodĪccording to newer research, synaptic pruning actually continues into early adulthood and stops sometime in the late 20s. While researchers once thought the brain only pruned synapses until early adolescence, recent advancements have discovered a second pruning period during late adolescence. The total number of synapses begins to stabilize. Synaptic pruning continues through adolescence, but not as fast as before. In the visual cortex, pruning continues until about 6 years of age. During this time, about 50 percent of the extra synapses are eliminated. Synaptic pruning happens very quickly between ages 2 and 10. Ages 2 to 10 yearsĭuring the second year of life, the number of synapses drops dramatically. This part of the brain is used for a variety of complex behaviors, including planning and personality. In the prefrontal cortex, peak levels of synapses occur sometime during the first year of life. In the visual cortex of the brain (the part responsible for vision), synapse production hits its peak at about 8 months of age. By age 2 or 3, an infant has about 15,000 synapses per neuron. New neurons and synapses are formed by the brain at an extremely high rate during this time.ĭuring the first year of life, the number of synapses in the brain of an infant grows more than tenfold. By the seventh month of a pregnancy, the fetus starts to emit its own brain waves. Early embryonic stage to 2 yearsīrain development in the embryo starts just a few weeks after conception. Some synaptic pruning begins very early in development, but the most rapid pruning happens between roughly age 2 and 16. The timing of synaptic pruning varies by brain region. But if a child receives little stimulation the brain will keep fewer of those connections. Constant stimulation causes synapses to grow and become permanent. In other words, whether or not a synapse is pruned is influenced by the experiences a developing child has with the world around them. The process of removing the irrelevant synapses during this time is referred to as synaptic pruning.Įarly synaptic pruning is mostly influenced by our genes. In other words, the process follows the “use it or lose it” principle: Synapses that are more active are strengthened, and synapses that are less active are weakened and ultimately pruned. This depends on how often the synapse is used. Once the brain forms a synapse, it can either be strengthened or weakened. But then shortly after this period of synaptic growth, the brain starts to remove synapses that it no longer needs. At about 2 to 3 years of age, the number of synapses hits a peak level. This rapid period of synaptogenesis plays a vital role in learning, memory formation, and adaptation early in life. There is an explosion of synapse formation between neurons during early brain development. During infancy, the brain experiences a large amount of growth.
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