Hippocampus News and Research

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The hippocampus is a part of the forebrain, located in the medial temporal lobe. It belongs to the limbic system and plays major roles in short term memory and spatial navigation. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain.

Miniature microscope helps neuroscientists identify how the brain links different memories over time

Using a miniature microscope that opens a window into the brain, UCLA neuroscientists have identified in mice how the brain links different memories over time. While aging weakens these connections, the team devised a way for the middle-aged brain to reconnect separate memories.

24 May 2016

Specific monocyte immune cells serve as link between gut bacteria and the brain

A special kind of immune cell serves as an intermediary between gut bacteria and the brain. Dr. Susanne Wolf of the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association discovered this in tests on mice and published her findings in the journal Cell Reports.

20 May 2016

Many biomarkers for PD fail to inform on progression

Longitudinal monitoring of 30 tests for marker candidates in early Parkinson's disease has found that just 10 show significant changes commensurate with disease progression.

17 May 2016

Estrogen-inhibiting drug may suppress dangerous brain seizures

A class of drug that inhibits estrogen production and is used to treat breast cancer has been found to quickly and effectively suppress dangerous brain seizures, according to a new Northwestern University study.

13 May 2016

Scientists find tau protein as better marker of Alzheimer's disease

A buildup of plaque and dysfunctional proteins in the brain are hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. While much Alzheimer's research has focused on accumulation of the protein amyloid beta, researchers have begun to pay closer attention to another protein, tau, long associated with this disease but not studied as thoroughly, in part, because scientists only recently have developed effective ways to image tau.

12 May 2016

Mice study reveals signs of stress-related early maturation in vital brain region

Intuition is all one needs to understand that stress in early childhood can create lifelong psychological troubles, but scientists have only begun to explain how those emerge in the brain.

11 May 2016

Riluzole drug can reverse key genetic changes linked to Alzheimer's disease

Aging takes its toll on the brain, and the cells of the hippocampus--a brain region with circuitry crucial to learning and memory--are particularly vulnerable to changes that can lead to Alzheimer's disease or cognitive decline. With the hope of counteracting the changes that can lead to these two conditions, researchers at Rockefeller University and their colleagues have begun examining the effects of a drug known to affect this circuitry.

4 May 2016

Brain receptor that initiates adolescent synaptic pruning appears to go awry in autism, schizophrenia

Research led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center has identified a brain receptor that appears to initiate adolescent synaptic pruning, a process believed necessary for learning, but one that appears to go awry in both autism and schizophrenia.

3 May 2016

Study shows cannabinoid type 2 receptor plays vital role in signal processing of the brain

The cannabinoid type 2 receptor - also called "CB2 receptor" - is a special membrane protein. Its function is to receive chemical signals that control cellular activity. "Until now, this receptor was considered part of the immune system without function in nerve cells.

3 May 2016

Researchers explore effects of adolescent obesity on cognitive performance in adulthood

The Franco-Mexican research explores the cognitive performance in adulthood when the subjects have been exposed to an obesogenic environment during adolescence.

30 Apr 2016

Disrupted memory pathways uncovered in epilepsy patients

A study in rats, backed up by results in patients, has revealed how interictal epileptiform discharges may lead to memory impairments in patients with epilepsy.

29 Apr 2016

Experimental cancer drug Nutlin-3 shows promise in cancelling effects of fragile X syndrome

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who studies the most common genetic intellectual disability has used an experimental drug to reverse — in mice — damage from the mutation that causes the syndrome.

28 Apr 2016

Study reveals new function for CACNA1C gene in psychiatric diseases

A new study shows the death of newborn brain cells may be linked to a genetic risk factor for five major psychiatric diseases, and at the same time shows a compound currently being developed for use in humans may have therapeutic value for these diseases by preventing the cells from dying.

27 Apr 2016

Researchers test potential positive effects of micro-injury in mice modeled with AD

Researchers testing the potential positive effects of "micro-injury" by brief insertion of a small needle into the hippocampal region of mice modeled with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have found that the procedure not only stimulated the hippocampus into regenerative activity, but also reduced β-amyloid plaques, a hallmark of AD.

27 Apr 2016

Early maternal support boosts robust brain growth in kids

Children whose mothers were nurturing during the preschool years, as opposed to later in childhood, have more robust growth in brain structures associated with learning, memory and stress response than children with less supportive moms, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

26 Apr 2016

Single season of contact sports can cause measurable brain changes

Repeated impacts to the heads of high school football players cause measurable changes in their brains, even when no concussion occurs, according to research from UT Southwestern Medical Center's Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

26 Apr 2016

Study sheds light on mechanism of empty memories in epileptic patients

Between seizures and continually, brain cells in epileptic patients send signals that make "empty memories," perhaps explaining the learning problems faced by up to 40 percent of patients. This is the finding of a study in rats and humans led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and published April 25 in Nature Medicine.

26 Apr 2016

Fructose common in western diet can damage brain genes

A range of diseases -- from diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and from Alzheimer's disease to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder -- are linked to changes to genes in the brain. A new study by UCLA life scientists has found that hundreds of those genes can be damaged by fructose, a sugar that's common in the Western diet, in a way that could lead to those diseases.

25 Apr 2016

Spatial navigation task used to access cognitive map skills can detect preclinical Alzheimer's disease

Long before Alzheimer's disease can be diagnosed clinically, increasing difficulties building cognitive maps of new surroundings may herald the eventual clinical onset of the disorder, finds new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

22 Apr 2016

Researchers identify traveling spike generator that produces brain waves

Brain waves that spread through the hippocampus are initiated by a method not seen before--a possible step toward understanding and treating epilepsy, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University.

21 Apr 2016

Hippocampus News and Research

Further Reading

Miniature microscope helps neuroscientists identify how the brain links different memories over time

Specific monocyte immune cells serve as link between gut bacteria and the brain

Many biomarkers for PD fail to inform on progression

Estrogen-inhibiting drug may suppress dangerous brain seizures

Scientists find tau protein as better marker of Alzheimer's disease

Mice study reveals signs of stress-related early maturation in vital brain region

Riluzole drug can reverse key genetic changes linked to Alzheimer's disease

Brain receptor that initiates adolescent synaptic pruning appears to go awry in autism, schizophrenia

Study shows cannabinoid type 2 receptor plays vital role in signal processing of the brain

Researchers explore effects of adolescent obesity on cognitive performance in adulthood

Disrupted memory pathways uncovered in epilepsy patients

Experimental cancer drug Nutlin-3 shows promise in cancelling effects of fragile X syndrome

Study reveals new function for CACNA1C gene in psychiatric diseases

Researchers test potential positive effects of micro-injury in mice modeled with AD

Early maternal support boosts robust brain growth in kids

Single season of contact sports can cause measurable brain changes

Study sheds light on mechanism of empty memories in epileptic patients

Fructose common in western diet can damage brain genes

Spatial navigation task used to access cognitive map skills can detect preclinical Alzheimer's disease

Researchers identify traveling spike generator that produces brain waves

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