Synapses Lost and Found: Developmental Critical Periods and Alzheimer's Disease

Professor Carla Shatz, Professor of Biology and of Neurobiology and the Director of Bio-X at Stanford University, discusses research results that show that Major Histocompatability Class I and PirB genes, thought previously to function only in immunity, act at neuronal synapses to limit how much - or how quickly - synapse strength changes in response to new experience. Changes in their function could contribute to developmental disorders such as Schizophrenia, and even to the synapse loss in Alzheimer’s Disease.
https://neuroscience.stanford.edu
Part of the Inaugural Symposium of Stanford Neurosciences Institute recorded on October 9, 2014.