Brain plasticity is the ability of the nervous system to change its structure and functioning in response to experiences. These changes occur mainly at synaptic connections, and this plasticity is named synaptic plasticity. During postnatal development, environmental influences trigger changes in synaptic plasticity that will play a crucial role in the formation and refinement of brain circuits and their functions in adulthood. One of the greatest challenges of present neuroscience is to try to explain how synaptic connections change and cortical maps are formed and modified to generate the most suitable adaptive behavior after different external stimuli. Adenosine is emerging as a key player in these plastic changes at different brain areas. Here, we review the current knowledge of the mechanisms responsible for the induction and duration of synaptic plasticity at different postnatal brain development stages in which adenosine, probably released by astrocytes, directly participates in the induction of long-term synaptic plasticity and in the control of the duration of plasticity windows at different cortical synapses. In addition, we comment on the role of the different adenosine receptors in brain diseases and on the potential therapeutic effects of acting via adenosine receptors.

中文翻译：

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腺苷和皮质可塑性

大脑可塑性是神经系统根据经历改变其结构和功能的能力。这些变化主要发生在突触连接处，这种可塑性称为突触可塑性。在出生后发育过程中，环境影响会引发突触可塑性的变化，这将在成年后大脑回路及其功能的形成和完善中发挥至关重要的作用。当前神经科学面临的最大挑战之一是试图解释突触连接如何变化以及皮质图是如何形成和修改的，以在不同的外部刺激后产生最合适的适应性行为。腺苷正在成为不同大脑区域这些可塑性变化的关键参与者。在这里，我们回顾了目前对不同出生后大脑发育阶段突触可塑性诱导和持续时间机制的了解，其中腺苷（可能由星形胶质细胞释放）直接参与长期突触可塑性的诱导和控制不同皮质突触可塑性窗口的持续时间。此外，我们还评论了不同腺苷受体在脑部疾病中的作用以及通过腺苷受体发挥作用的潜在治疗效果。