Memory & stem cells

How memory formation is triggered by stem cells

February 29, 2012

Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can remember new memories while also maintaining older ones.

They found that specific neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus serve distinct roles in memory formation depending on whether the neural stem cells that produced them were of old or young.

The study links the cellular basis of memory formation to the birth of new neurons, a finding that could unlock a new class of drug targets to treat memory disorders. The findings also suggest that an imbalance between young and old neurons in the brain could disrupt normal memory formation during post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and aging./.../