Science: An important breakthrough! The new brain area responsible for memory was discovered

Release date: 2017-01-19

So far, the hippocampus is considered to be the most important brain area responsible for memory, and other areas are only used as an aid. However, a study published in the journal Science on January 13 found that brain regions called the entorhinal cortex play a new independent role in memory. A group of researchers led by Professor Jozsef Csicsvari of the Austrian Association for Science and Technology (IST Austria) showed that in rats, the entorhinal cortex reproduces motor memory unrelated to hippocampal input.

Jozsef Csicsvari said: "So far, the entorhinal cortex is thought to aid in hippocampal formation and memory, but our study shows that the entorhinal cortex can reproduce and move in a maze-independent maze-like firing pattern, olfactory The cortex may form a new memory system parallel to the hippocampus."

When spatial memory is formed, cells in the medial inner olfactory cortex (MEC), particularly grid cells, act like a navigation system. They provide the hippocampus with information about where the animal is and give clues as to how far and how the animal moves. Rats are remembered by a network of neurons formed in the hippocampus to remember position and movement. When recalled, the MEC has been considered a communicator of the hippocampus. In the hippocampus, when the neural network operates in a highly synchronized manner, this recall occurs during the so-called "spike/ripple" period. According to the point of view so far, the hippocampus is the initiator of this replay and coordinates memory consolidation, while the MEC is simply a relay station that spreads messages to other brain regions.

To understand whether replay occurred in the MEC, the researchers studied the memory recalls of rats moving in the maze. They indicate neurons in the surface of the medial entorhinal cortex (sMEC), send input to the hippocampus, contain grid cells, emit during the memory task, and encode the route as the burst point of the launch. Surprisingly, the authors found that the replay excitation in the sMEC was not accompanied by replay excitation in the hippocampus. During sleep and wake up, the sMEC only triggers its own replay and initiates recall and consolidation independently of the hippocampus. Joseph O'Neill, the first author and postdoctoral of the Jozsef Csicsvari group, explains how these results change the way we see memory formation: "The hippocampus alone cannot control how to form and recall memories, but the entorhinal cortex and The hippocampus may be two systems of memory formation and memory. Although they are interrelated, these two regions may work in parallel. They may recruit different pathways and play different roles in memory.

References J. O'Neill, CN Boccara, F. Stella, P. Schoenenberger, J. Csicsvari. Superficial layers of the medial entorhinal cortex replay independently of the hippocampus.Science, 2017; DOI: 10.1126/science.aag2787

Source: bio360 (micro signal bio360)

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