A study by Johns Hopkins researchers has shown that a widely
accepted model of long-term memory formation — that it hinges on a single
enzyme in the brain — is flawed. The new study, published in the Jan. 2 issue
of Nature, found that mice lacking the enzyme that purportedly builds memory
were in fact still able to form long-term memories as well as normal mice
could.
“The prevailing theory is that when you learn something, you
strengthen connections between your brain cells called synapses,” explains Richard
Huganir, Ph.D., a professor and director of the Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine’s Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience. “The question is,
how exactly does this strengthening happen?”