Incomplete receptor molecules contribute to memory formation

How is memory formed? This question has been a headache for scientists for many years, but at this point we seem to have taken a step closer to the answer.

The lead candidate is a process called long-term potency enhancement (LTP) which is a more regular and consistent link between each individual brain cell that occurs during the cognitive process. However, when observing LTP on each part of the brain, it is difficult to record the cognitive process of an active living brain.

(Artwork: Aferecords) Currently Professor Liliana Minichiello and her colleagues at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Monterotondo, Italy and Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, Spain have carried out on the brain. of live mice by separating a molecule initiating a remarkable path into LTP. The study relies on a technique developed last year to record LTP on the temporal lobe of the cognitive area while training animals to wink with an impact.

In this new study, the team used mice with imperfect receptor molecules called TrkB, found on the surface of brain cells in the temporal lobe. These mice were unable to absorb or initiate the LTP process in response to familiar stimuli, indicating TrkB as a key memory molecule. The discovery will be published in Learning and Memory magazine this week.

Minichiello hopes that when they identify more molecules related to the start of LTP, it may help pave the way for making memory drugs that are memory or at least help improve memory.

Anh Phuong