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.

Researchers identify link between genetic mutation and schizophrenia

In what may provide the most compelling evidence to date, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have illuminated how a genetic variant may lead to schizophrenia by causing a disruption in communication between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex regions of the brain, areas believed to be responsible for carrying out working memory.

2 Apr 2010

Genetic risk factor for schizophrenia can disrupt connectivity at level of single neurons

The strongest known recurrent genetic cause of schizophrenia impairs communications between the brain's decision-making and memory hubs, resulting in working memory deficits, according to a study in mice.

1 Apr 2010

New clues may help explain why some people are more susceptible to stress than others

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found new clues that might help explain why some people are more susceptible to stress than others.

31 Mar 2010

Mood altering effects of Phenytoin

Phenytoin is a well known antiepileptic agent widely used throughout the world. Recent clinical studies in patients with bipolar disorder have suggested that, as for other anticonvulsant drugs commonly used in the treatment of bipolar patients including valproate and carbamazepine, phenytoin may have mood-stabilizing effects in addition to its well-known anticonvulsant properties.

30 Mar 2010

Insulin receptor vital for keeping neural stem cells alive

University of California, Berkeley, biologists have found a signal that keeps stem cells alive in the adult brain, providing a focus for scientists looking for ways to re-grow or re-seed stem cells in the brain to allow injured areas to repair themselves.

26 Mar 2010

Rapidly declining memory in people with cognitive impairment may indicate stage before Alzheimer's disease

Memory and thinking skills may decline rapidly for people who have mild cognitive impairment, which is the stage before Alzheimer's disease when people have mild memory problems but no dementia symptoms, and even more rapidly when dementia begins, which is when Alzheimer's disease is usually diagnosed. The research is published in the March 23, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

23 Mar 2010

Research shows phenomenon of brain replay is much more complex

The hippocampus, a part of the brain essential for memory, has long been known to "replay" recently experienced events. Previously, replay was believed to be a simple process of reviewing recent experiences in order to help consolidate them into long-term memory.

18 Mar 2010

Expectant mothers’ spatial memory ability reduces during later stages of pregnancy

New research has found that pregnant women's ability to remember the position of objects previously seen is reduced as pregnancy progresses. These findings will be presented this week at the annual Society for Endocrinology BES conference in Manchester.

18 Mar 2010

Neurologix receives US PTO Notice of Allowance concerning treatment approach for epilepsy

Neurologix, Inc. today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for intellectual property central to the company’s approach to the treatment of epilepsy. The patent allowance specifically refers to Neurologix’s patent application, “Methods and Compositions for the Treatment of Neurological Disease,” which covers the treatment of seizures associated with temporal lobe epilepsy by direct administration into the brain’s temporal lobe of an AAV vector encoding Neuropeptide Y (NPY).

15 Mar 2010

Decision making: Replays in hippocampus part of complex process

Replaying recent events in the area of the brain called the hippocampus may have less to do with creating long-term memories, as scientists have suspected, than with an active decision-making process, suggests a new study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Minnesota Medical School.

12 Mar 2010

Research reveals link between repeated anaesthesia and memory impairment

There is a link between repeated anaesthesia in children and memory impairment, though physical activity can help to form new cells that improve memory, reveals new research from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

9 Mar 2010

Repeated anaesthesia in children linked to memory impairment

8 Mar 2010

Study suggests mental activity could stave off age-related cognitive and memory decline

UC Irvine neurobiologists are providing the first visual evidence that learning promotes brain health - and, therefore, that mental stimulation could limit the debilitating effects of aging on memory and the mind.

3 Mar 2010

$28M grant to examine neural and behavioral profiles of healthy cognitive aging

The Research Partnership in Cognitive Aging, a public-private effort to promote the study of brain function with age, will award up to $28 million over five years to 17 research grants to examine the neural and behavioral profiles of healthy cognitive aging and explore interventions that may prevent, reduce or reverse cognitive decline in older people.

2 Mar 2010

Research focuses on DYRK1A gene in association with Down's syndrome

Research undertaken in recent years on Down's syndrome has focused on the DYRK1A gene. The superexpression of this gene affects transmission in the neurones, according to Mr Garikoitz Azkona. In his PhD thesis, The molecular bases of neuropathology in Down's syndrome: the role of DYRK1A, Mr Azkona argues that this failure in neurone transmission could be behind the problem that persons with Down's syndrome have regarding visual-spatial memory.

2 Mar 2010

Neurogenesis linked to drug addiction and relapse

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center hope they have begun paving a new pathway in the fight against drug dependence. Their hypothesis - that increasing the normally occurring process of making nerve cells might prevent addiction - is based on a rodent study demonstrating that blocking new growth of specific brain nerve cells increases vulnerability for cocaine addiction and relapse.

27 Feb 2010

Neural differences in map of the brain when learning new nouns and verbs

Two Spanish psychologists and a German neurologist have recently shown that the brain that activates when a person learns a new noun is different from the part used when a verb is learnt. The scientists observed this using brain images taken using functional magnetic resonance, according to an article they have published this month in the journal Neuroimage.

26 Feb 2010

Siestas can dramatically boost and restore brain power

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.

21 Feb 2010

VTT Technical Research Centre develops 3-minute MR image assessment method

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a method for analysing MR images in just a few minutes when diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. The accuracy of the analysis is comparable to manual measurements made by skilled professionals, which are currently considered the most reliable method for diagnosing Alzheimer's disease. The accurate and rapid analysis method is well suited for clinical use.

17 Feb 2010

Brain researchers explore link between emotion and memory

In a novel study that used historical tape of a thrilling overtime basketball game between Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, brain researchers at Duke have found that fans remember the good things their team did much better than the bad.

10 Feb 2010