ReviewMolecular psychiatry2023
The times they are a-changin': a proposal on how brain flexibility goes beyond the obvious to include the concepts of "upward" and "downward" to neuroplasticity.
Review in Molecular psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biochemical, Molecular and Behavioral Changes Induced by High-fat and High-sugar Diets: A Systematic Review of Non-clinical Studies.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Local autophagy impairment triggers brain-wide presynaptic remodeling and resilience.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- The mPFC-reuniens-hippocampus pathway links brain circuitry and neural plasticity in antidepressant response.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Good vibrations: Sternal vibration enhances white matter density and interoceptive awareness.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A Biomarker Out of Context: Understanding High p-tau217 in the Developing Brain.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Do white matter microstructural alterations associated with childhood maltreatment explain psychopathology in early adulthood?-a longitudinal neuroimaging study.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2026Article
- μ Opioid Modulation of Sensorimotor Functional Connectivity in Autism: Insights From a Pharmacological Neuroimaging Investigation Using Tianeptine.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Article
- Multi-organ AI endophenotypes chart the heterogeneity of brain, eye and heart pan-disease.Nature. Mental health · 2026Article
- Experimental Models and Translational Strategies in Neuroprotective Drug Development with Emphasis on Alzheimer's Disease.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity in Age-Related Neurodegenerative Disorders.Neural plasticity · 2026Review
- Good vibrations: Sternal vibration enhances white matter density and interoceptive awareness.Research square · 2025Article
- Neurovascular Signaling at the Gliovascular Interface: From Flow Regulation to Cognitive Energy Coupling.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Review
- Single Electrically Induced Epileptic Afterdischarge Triggers Synaptic Weakening, AMPA Receptor Endocytosis, and Shrinkage of Dendritic Spines in the Hippocampus.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Frequency Switching Neuristor for Realizing Intrinsic Plasticity and Enabling Robust Neuromorphic Computing.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Article
- Transient gray matter decline during antarctic isolation: Roles of sleep, exercise, and cognition.NPJ microgravity · 2025Article
- Longer-term effects and underlying mechanisms of dietary intervention strategies on cognitive performance in adults with cognitive impairment.Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care · 2025Review
- COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts on STRESS, PTSD, and Prefrontal Cortical Thickness in Pre-Pandemic Trauma Survivors.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Article
- The dynamic relationship of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and oxytocin: Introducing the concept of neurosocial plasticity.Neuroprotection (Chichester, England) · 2025Review
- Remission from addiction: erasing the wrong circuits or making new ones?Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Since the brain was found to be somehow flexible, plastic, researchers worldwide have been trying to comprehend its fundamentals to better understand the brain itself, make predictions, disentangle the neurobiology of brain diseases, and finally propose up-to-date treatments. Neuroplasticity is simple as a concept, but extremely complex when it comes to its mechanisms. This review aims to bring to light an aspect about neuroplasticity that is often not given enough attention as it should, the fact that the brain's ability to change would include its ability to disconnect synapses. So, neuronal shrinkage, decrease in spine density or dendritic complexity should be included within the concept of neuroplasticity as part of its mechanisms, not as an impairment of it. To that end, we extensively describe a variety of studies involving topics such as neurodevelopment, aging, stress, memory and homeostatic plasticity to highlight how the weakening and disconnection of synapses organically permeate the brain in so many ways as a good practice of its intrinsic physiology. Therefore, we propose to break down neuroplasticity into two sub-concepts, "upward neuroplasticity" for changes related to synaptic construction and "downward neuroplasticity" for changes related to synaptic deconstruction. With these sub-concepts, neuroplasticity could be better understood from a bigger landscape as a vector in which both directions could be taken for the brain to flexibly adapt to certain demands. Such a paradigm shift would allow a better understanding of the concept of neuroplasticity to avoid any data interpretation bias, once it makes clear that there is no morality with regard to the organic and physiological changes that involve dynamic biological systems as seen in the brain.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.