Short-term learning induces white matter plasticity in the fornix.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has greatly extended the exploration of neuroplasticity in behaving animals and humans. Imaging studies recently uncovered structural changes that occur in gray and white matter, mainly after long-term training. A recent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study showed that training in a car racing game for 2 h induces changes in the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyri. However, the effect of short-term training on the white matter microstructure is unknown. Here we investigated the influence of short learning tasks on structural plasticity in the white matter, and specifically in the fornix, in humans and rats. Human subjects performed a 2 h spatial learning task, and rats underwent training for 1 d in a Morris water maze. Between tasks, subjects were scanned with DTI, a diffusion MRI framework sensitive to tissue microstructure. Using tract-based spatial statistics, we found changes in diffusivity indices in both humans and rats. In both species, changes in diffusion in the fornix were correlated with diffusion changes in the hippocampus, as well as with behavioral measures of improvement in the learning tasks. These results, which provide the first indication of short-term white matter plasticity in the human brain, suggest that the adult brain white matter preserves dynamic characteristics and can be modified by short-term learning experiences. The extent of change in white matter was correlated with their extent in gray matter, suggesting that all components of the neural network are capable of rapid remodeling in response to cognitive experiences.

Learning in the fast lane: new insights into neuroplasticity.

The timescale of structural remodeling that accompanies functional neuroplasticity is largely unknown. Although structural remodeling of human brain tissue is known to occur following long-term (weeks) acquisition of a new skill, little is known as to what happens structurally when the brain needs to adopt new sequences of procedural rules or memorize a cascade of events within minutes or hours. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an MRI-based framework, we examined subjects before and after a spatial learning and memory task. Microstructural changes (as reflected by DTI measures) of limbic system structures (hippocampus and parahippocampus) were significant after only 2 hr of training. This observation was also found in a supporting rat study. We conclude that cellular rearrangement of neural tissue can be detected by DTI, and that this modality may allow neuroplasticity to be localized over short timescales.