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.

Human brains prioritize and reinforce high-reward memories

Why do we remember some events, places and things, but not others? Our brains prioritize rewarding memories over others, and reinforce them by replaying them when we are at rest, according to new research from the University of California, Davis, Center for Neuroscience, published Feb. 11 in the journal Neuron.

15 Feb 2016

Researchers devise lipid-based diets to relieve symptoms of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is the most common disease underlying memory problems and dementia in the elderly. One of the invariable pathologies in AD is degeneration of cholinergic synapses in brain cortex and hippocampus.

11 Feb 2016

Patients with COPD show decreased gray matter volume in certain areas of the brain

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), a condition impacting nearly 24 million Americans, is often associated with disease-specific fears and avoidance of physical activity. Little is known of the structural brain processes that occur in COPD patients. A study published in the February issue of the journal CHEST found that patients with COPD demonstrated gray matter decreases in areas of the brain that process breathlessness, fear and sensitivity to pain.

9 Feb 2016

Aging brains work differently than younger brains, say cognitive scientists

Cognitive scientists have found more evidence that aging brains work differently than younger brains when performing the same memory task, pointing to a potentially new direction for age-related cognitive care and exploration.

9 Feb 2016

Aggression influences new nerve cell production in the brain

A group of neurobiologists from Russia and the USA, including Dmitry Smagin, Tatyana Michurina, and Grigori Enikolopov from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have proven experimentally that aggression has an influence on the production of new nerve cells in the brain.

8 Feb 2016

UCI researchers identify potential strategies to prevent cognitive decline

As brain cells age they lose the fibers that receive neural impulses, a change that may underlie cognitive decline. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine recently found a way to reverse this process in rats. The study was published February 3 in The Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers caution that more studies are needed, but the findings shed light on the mechanisms of cognitive decline and identify potential strategies to stem it.

3 Feb 2016

Study finds no evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical brain volumes

Over the last decade, important contributions to our understanding of schizophrenia have come from two different types of studies. Neuroimaging studies have found that certain parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, are smaller in people with schizophrenia - a devastating psychiatric illness with high heritability.

3 Feb 2016

Understanding crucial role of 'healthy' brain in preventing memory failures linked to Alzheimer's disease

The mechanisms underlying the stability and plasticity of neural circuits in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for spatial memory and the memory of everyday facts and events, has been a major focus of study in the field of neuroscience. Understanding precisely how a "healthy" brain stores and processes information is crucial to preventing and reversing the memory failures associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of late-life dementia.

2 Feb 2016

Oestrogen supplements could reduce dementia risk in women

Women who take oestrogen supplements from before or at the start of menopause and continue with them for a few years have better preserved brain structure, which may reduce the risk of dementia.

22 Jan 2016

People suffering from chronic stress, anxiety may be at increased risk for depression and dementia

A scientific review paper warns that people need to find ways to reduce chronic stress and anxiety in their lives or they may be at increased risk for developing depression and even dementia.

22 Jan 2016

Growing up in poverty could alter children's brain connectivity, increase risk of depression

Many negative consequences are linked to growing up poor, and researchers at Washington University St. Louis have identified one more: altered brain connectivity.

18 Jan 2016

Determining Ectopeptidase Activity: An Interview with Professor Stephen Weber, University of Pittsburgh

The scope of the activity of neuropeptides is remarkably broad. For example, neuropeptides are involved in pain control, mood/depression/eating disorders, social and emotional behaviour, body weight, drug abuse, stress, reproduction, motor control, memory, and in maintaining neuronal health when they are stressed.

From Pittcon 14 Jan 2016

New UTMB study reveals link between traumatic brain injury and Alzheimer's disease

A new study from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston fills an important gap in understanding the link between traumatic brain injury and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

13 Jan 2016

Intake of Bimuno in early life benefits brain development

Clasado Biosciences Limited, the producers and suppliers of Bimuno® (B-GOS), a unique patented trans-galactooligosaccharide complex, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, today announce the results of their latest pre-clinical study, demonstrating for the first time a major role of B-GOS in modulating brain development at the molecular level in early life stages.

11 Jan 2016

Scientists reveal underlying mechanisms that lead to more difficult-to-treat symptoms of schizophrenia

Scientists at Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, and the Université Paris Descartes have found that deficits in social memory--a crucial yet poorly understood feature of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia--may be due to a decrease in the number of a particular class of brain cells, called inhibitory neurons, in a little-explored region within the brain's memory center.

7 Jan 2016

Eating at the wrong time of day affects learning and memory

An occasional late-night raid on turkey leftovers might be harmless but new research with mice suggests that making a habit of it could alter brain physiology.

24 Dec 2015

Researchers find mechanism that alters expression of key genes to make windows of stress-related neuroplasticity

Chronic stress can lead to changes in neural circuitry that leave the brain trapped in states of anxiety and depression. But even under repeated stress, brief opportunities for recovery can open up, according to new research at The Rockefeller University.

23 Dec 2015

Researchers identify biochemical factors that may predict Alzheimer's disease

Investigators have wondered why the brains of some cognitively-intact elderly individuals have abundant pathology on autopsy or significant amyloid deposition on neuroimaging that are characteristic of Alzheimer disease (AD).

22 Dec 2015

USC-led study finds link between anxiety and dementia

People who experienced high anxiety any time in their lives had a 48 percent higher risk of developing dementia compared to those who had not, according to a new study led by USC researchers.

20 Dec 2015

UCLA study may help resolve a neurological mystery

UCLA researchers have found that space-mapping neurons - the GPS system in the brain - have a strong dependence on what is being looked at when triangulating location, a finding that resolves a neurological mystery that has vexed scientists for more than four decades.

18 Dec 2015