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.

Alcohol impacts gene expression differently across brain regions

Erica Periandri and Gabor Egervari, from Washington University in St. Louis, led a study to explore how alcohol exposure in male mice influences gene expression and mechanisms that regulate gene function-or epigenetics.

30 Mar 2026

Mild hypoxia in preterm infants linked to lifelong memory issues

During intensive care after preterm births, babies can experience low oxygen in their tissue and cells-or hypoxia.

23 Mar 2026

Internal compass helps the brain keep memories stable during change

A new discovery by McGill researchers sheds light on how we retain memories over time, even though brain activity is constantly changing.

23 Mar 2026

Chronotherapy offers new hope for timing pain relief to match body cycles

Time plays a key role in our perception of pain and administering pain relief and medication for chronic pain-related depression may be more effective at certain times of day, UCL and University of Toronto researchers say.

23 Mar 2026

Study identifies brain pathway crucial for proper functioning of working memory

Working memory is a cognitive function that is essential for carrying out everyday activities and temporarily retaining information.

17 Mar 2026

Physical activity may reshape brain effects of childhood trauma

New research indicates that the long-term neurological impact of childhood trauma is not permanently etched onto the brain.

17 Mar 2026

Boosting noradrenaline during learning makes the brain link memories more broadly, study finds

A randomized placebo controlled experiment shows that increasing noradrenaline during learning does not improve basic memory accuracy but increases the spread of associations across the hippocampal cognitive map. This broader neural linking leads to greater overgeneralization errors days later, suggesting that noradrenergic arousal can reshape how related memories become interconnected.

16 Mar 2026

Brain waste clearance dysfunction may predict the onset of psychosis

How can we explain the onset of psychotic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia? Despite their major and often irreversible impact on intellectual abilities and autonomy, the biological mechanisms that precede their emergence remain poorly understood.

16 Mar 2026

Gut microbes may drive memory decline during aging by disrupting vagal brain signaling

Researchers identified in mice a microbiome–gut–brain pathway in which age-associated changes in gut microbes increase medium-chain fatty acids that impair vagal sensory signaling and hippocampal activity. These interoceptive disruptions weaken memory formation, revealing a microbial mechanism that contributes to cognitive decline during aging.

12 Mar 2026

How the aging gastrointestinal tract drives age-related cognitive decline

We become forgetful as we age. This is often seen as a universal truth, but in fact it is far from universal: some people remain incredibly sharp at 100 years old, while others experience memory loss starting in middle age.

11 Mar 2026

Exercise triggers memory-related brain waves in the hippocampus

A single session of physical exercise can spawn a boost of neural activity in brain networks that underlie learning and memory, according to a new study led by the University of Iowa.

9 Mar 2026

New study shows the brain reactivates memories without reaching conscious thought

Researchers have used brain imaging to show how memories can be reactivated in the brain without them reaching conscious awareness, showing that these memories persist even when we think they have been forgotten.

6 Mar 2026

Machine learning detects early brain changes linked to Alzheimer's disease

Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) researchers have used a form of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze anatomical changes in the brain and predict Alzheimer's disease with nearly 93% accuracy.

5 Mar 2026

MSU scientists map the neural circuitry of drug compulsion

When a cocaine addict relapses, it isn't a matter of personal failure - it's the biological result of their brain's rewiring, new research finds.

5 Mar 2026

Brain imaging study reveals distinct subtypes of ADHD in children

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often talked about as if it were a single condition. But anyone who works with children with ADHD-or raises one-knows that symptoms can look very different from one child to another.

4 Mar 2026

Enhancing myelination may help sustain therapeutic effects of psychedelic-assisted PTSD treatment

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not only characterized by strongly encoded traumatic memories, but also by disrupted coordination across brain networks.

4 Mar 2026

Low‑dose oral lithium may help slow the decline of verbal memory, trial suggests

Lithium-a decades-old treatment for bipolar disorder-may hold potential neuroprotective benefits beyond mood stabilization.

2 Mar 2026

Researchers reveal why SuperAgers retain youthful brain cell signatures into their 80s

Researchers used single-nucleus RNA sequencing and chromatin accessibility profiling to map human hippocampal neurogenesis across adulthood, aging, and Alzheimer’s disease. They found that chromatin accessibility changes, more than gene expression alone, distinguish healthy aging, preclinical pathology, Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers.

26 Feb 2026

Ketogenic diet alters brain signaling to reduce epileptic seizures

A ketogenic diet - one that is high in fat and extremely low in carbohydrates - has been known for decades to reduce seizures in some epilepsy patients.

25 Feb 2026

Superagers show greater neuron growth linked to strong memory

Brains of older adults with super healthy cognition grow more new neurons than those of their peers, according to a study from UIC, Northwestern University and the University of Washington.

25 Feb 2026