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.

Childhood trauma affects brain pathways linked to adult anhedonia

Experiencing trauma in childhood can lead to a lack of motivation and less pleasure from rewards-or anhedonia-later in life.

17 Aug 2026

Cocoa looks promising for mood, but the brain benefits come with a catch

A review of clinical and preclinical studies suggests cocoa polyphenols may support mood, neuroplasticity, cerebral blood flow, and gut-brain signaling through pathways involving BDNF/CREB, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

17 Aug 2026

Astrocytes found to directly regulate memory consolidation during sleep

Research has shown that a good night's sleep has many benefits, including memory consolidation. How sleep enables the brain to strengthen memories is still not completely understood, but a new study published in Neuron reveals how astrocytes, brain cells known for supporting neurons and their functions, can directly regulate brain circuits involved in memory consolidation.

13 Aug 2026

High-resolution scans reveal how depression affects hippocampal subfields

Researchers from the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have found that depression is associated with smaller volume in a specific part of the hippocampus, a brain region essential for learning and memory.

6 Aug 2026

New AI model generates detailed maps of aging in brain regions

USC researchers have developed an approach that uses artificial intelligence to generate detailed maps that highlight differences in how distinct parts of the brain age.

3 Aug 2026

Overactive brain immune response linked to rare, severe genetic epilepsy

An overactive immune response in the brain may play a role in Dravet Syndrome, a rare and severe genetic epilepsy that typically begins in infancy, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers.

29 Jul 2026

A closer look at Parkinson’s brains finds tau where standard tests saw little

Researchers used single-molecule and super-resolution imaging to profile protein aggregates across six brain regions from 29 post-mortem donors, detecting high-intensity phosphorylated tau aggregates in the Parkinson’s disease putamen despite negligible conventional tau staining. PD cases with dementia showed greater tau burden than those without dementia, while the assay did not detect a PD-specific population of nanoscopic alpha-synuclein aggregates.

29 Jul 2026

Three key brain regions interact during sleep to support memory formation

Researchers at Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins Medicine have discovered that memory consolidation during sleep depends on coordinated activity among three brain regions and disruptions to this activity can impair memory performance.

27 Jul 2026

Signals traveling from the gut through the vagus nerve help form memories

When French writer Marcel Proust famously recalled his childhood from the taste of a Madeline cookie, his stomach may have done some of the work.

27 Jul 2026

Spontaneous brain state fluctuations influence real-time memory formation

Most everyday moments are quickly forgotten, while others stay with us for a lifetime. How the brain determines which memories are retained and which are lost remains an open question.

24 Jul 2026

Study reveals dynamic remodeling of genome architecture during brain aging

Researchers have discovered that the human brain undergoes widespread age-related changes in genome regulation beginning in midlife that may help explain why aging is the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

23 Jul 2026

Frequent TV watching links to higher white matter lesion volume

ARIC researchers linked self-reported TV watching and occupational sitting in midlife with brain MRI measures obtained roughly 24 years later in 1,712 adults without dementia. Frequent TV watching was associated with greater white matter hyperintensity volume and lower volumes in several brain regions, while sitting at work was associated with lower white matter hyperintensity volume and larger selected cortical volumes.

22 Jul 2026

Hippocampal damage linked to memory loss and apathy

People with autoimmune limbic encephalitis experience memory loss associated with damage to their hippocampus.

20 Jul 2026

Study reveals why rare neurological disease damages specific brain regions

Many neurological diseases damage specific parts of the brain, even though the harmful protein involved is present throughout the brain.

20 Jul 2026

Study reveals how adolescent brain remodeling reshapes memory retrieval

Scientists have long known that the human brain continues developing well beyond the teenage years, with important changes involving decision-making and emotional regulation extending into the mid-to-late 20s.

17 Jul 2026

Researchers identify immune cell receptor that drives organ aging process

We may age at different rates, but none of us escapes aging. A study in mice and in human cells by Stanford Medicine researchers pins much of the blame on a particular type of immune cell's increased inability, with advancing age, to gobble up another immune cell type.

16 Jul 2026

Study offers insight into how long-term inflammation may contribute to cognitive decline

The King's College London study, published in Nature Communications, offers insight into how long-term inflammation may contribute to cognitive decline in disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, aging, depression, and the lingering neurological effects of viral infections.

7 Jul 2026

Study compares different light therapies for treating Alzheimer's disease

The researchers treated 5‑month‑old 5xFAD mice – a model with aggressive amyloid deposition – with 810‑nm light (25 mW/cm² at the scalp, ~6.25 mW/cm² brain dose for CW, and half that for 40‑Hz due to 50% duty cycle) for 10 minutes daily over 37 days.

6 Jul 2026

Study provides new insights into biological processes linked to Huntington’s disease

A study conducted by the Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) and Hospital de Sant Pau has identified for the first time in living individuals a brain pattern related to the tau protein that changes according to the stage of Huntington's disease.

6 Jul 2026

Study reveals hidden brain circuit behind flexible visual thinking

Nuttida Rungratsameetaweemana is challenging a story neuroscience has told for decades. According to the conventional account, our eyes collect raw information and relay it through a series of nerves and waystations that lead deep into the brain, eventually reaching the cortex.

2 Jul 2026