January 3, 2013

STUDY REFUTES ACCEPTED MODEL OF MEMORY FORMATION




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?”