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.

Activation of MMP-9 enzyme leads to behavioral problems connected to chronic stress

Why is it that when people are too stressed they are often grouchy, grumpy, nasty, distracted or forgetful? Researchers from the Brain Mind Institute at EPFL have just highlighted a fundamental synaptic mechanism that explains the relationship between chronic stress and the loss of social skills and cognitive impairment. When triggered by stress, an enzyme attacks a synaptic regulatory molecule in the brain. This was revealed by a work published in Nature Communications.

19 Sep 2014

UAB researchers discover novel mechanism involved in formation of memory, learning

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham report the discovery of a novel mechanism in the brain involved in the formation of memory and learning. In findings reported online this week in Nature, the research team describes the role of a histone subunit known as H2A.Z.

18 Sep 2014

New research illustrates how fear arises in the brain

An estimated 8% of Americans will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point during their lifetime. Brought on by an overwhelming or stressful event or events, PTSD is the result of altered chemistry and physiology of the brain.

16 Sep 2014

UC Irvine study sheds light on cognitive losses

Brain inflammation can rapidly disrupt our ability to retrieve complex memories of similar but distinct experiences, according to UC Irvine neuroscientists Jennifer Czerniawski and John Guzowski.

15 Sep 2014

New way to preserve flexibility and resilience of the brain

As Alzheimer's disease progresses, it kills brain cells mainly in the hippocampus and cortex, leading to impairments in "neuroplasticity," the mechanism that affects learning, memory, and thinking.

10 Sep 2014

Brain imaging could assist bipolar depression diagnosis

Researchers have identified structural brain differences that could help to distinguish patients with unipolar and bipolar depression.

5 Sep 2014

Mice who have partial deficiency of gene SENP2 are more likely to develop seizures, sudden death

A gene crucial for brain and heart development may also be associated with sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the most common cause of early mortality in epilepsy patients.

4 Sep 2014

Finding could lead researchers to better understand development of psychiatric disorders

Some people take stress in stride; others are done in by it. New research at Rockefeller University has identified the molecular mechanisms of this so-called stress gap in mice with very similar genetic backgrounds - a finding that could lead researchers to better understand the development of psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.

2 Sep 2014

Study for better understanding of neural circuitry and dynamic mechanisms controlling memory

A study just published in the prestigious Nature Neuroscience journal by, Sylvain Williams, PhD, and his team, of the Research Centre of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University, opens the door towards better understanding of the neural circuitry and dynamic mechanisms controlling memory as well of the role of an essential element of the hippocampus - a sub-region named the subiculum.

1 Sep 2014

Neuroscientists explore how imagination happens in the brain

Stefania Ashby and her faculty mentor devised experiments using MRI technology that would help them distinguish pure imagination from related processes like remembering.

29 Aug 2014

Scientists alter emotional associations of specific memories

By manipulating neural circuits in the brain of mice, scientists have altered the emotional associations of specific memories.

28 Aug 2014

Study to explain how brain reorganizes itself as children learn math facts

As children learn basic arithmetic, they gradually switch from solving problems by counting on their fingers to pulling facts from memory. The shift comes more easily for some kids than for others, but no one knows why.

18 Aug 2014

Individual’s genetic make-up determines effect of stress on emotional centres

Our individual genetic make-up determines the effect that stress has on our emotional centres. These are the findings of a group of researchers from the MedUni Vienna. Not every individual reacts in the same way to life events that produce the same degree of stress.

18 Aug 2014

Study suggests autophagy is involved in the onset of vascular dementia

Autophagy is a basic catabolic mechanism by which unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components are degraded by lysosomes.

12 Aug 2014

7.0T NMR spectroscopy detects lesions in hippocampal neurons of Alzheimer's disease

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy can quantitatively analyze in vivo abnormalities of biochemical metabolism within brain tissue in a noninvasive and non-radioactive manner.

6 Aug 2014

UC Davis researcher receives NSSEFF grant to advance new work on learning and memory

Professor Charan Ranganath of the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology has received a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense.

3 Aug 2014

Researchers find differences in brain wiring between children with SPD and those with autism

Researchers at UC San Francisco have found that children with sensory processing disorders have decreased structural brain connections in specific sensory regions different than those in autism, further establishing SPD as a clinically important neurodevelopmental disorder.

31 Jul 2014

Study provides potential drug targets for transient cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury

Mitochondria play an important role in neuronal apoptosis caused by cerebral ischemia. Researchers at the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, China discovered transient ischemia led to cell apoptosis in the hippocampus and changes in memory and cognition of aged rats.

26 Jul 2014

Neuroscientists shed new light on how the brain works

Neuroscientists in Bonn and Heidelberg have succeeded in providing new insights into how the brain works. Researchers at the DZNE and the German Cancer Research Center analyzed tissue samples from mice to identify how two specific proteins, ‘CKAMP44’ and ‘TARP Gamma-8’, act upon the brain’s memory center.