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Memory mission explores new territory in neuroscience
November 21, 2008Astrophysicists peer into the far corners of deep space for dark matter, but for neuroscientists at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) exploring the unknown is much closer to home.
They have discovered a mechanism vital to the development of the hippocampus * - a region of the brain crucial to the formation of memories, and the lifelong production and integration of new nerve cells.
To say the hippocampus is important is a bit like saying breathing is optimal.
According to QBI's Associate Professor Linda Richards, despite the crucial role performed by the hippocampus throughout life, knowledge of this region's early development remains surprisingly scant. Her research team is looking at how the brain forms during embryonic and foetal development.
Dr Richards and her colleagues have identified a gene that regulates the development of glial cells in the hippocampus. Their research shows that the hippocampus contains different populations of glial cells that are essential for the structural integrity of the hippocampus.
"Glial cells are an important part of the building blocks of the brain," Dr Richards said.
"They provide an essential scaffold for the migration of neurons in the developing brain. It is vital we understand how glial cells provide this structural scaffold because if the hippocampus is not formed correctly it cannot perform all the functions required of it in the developing and adult brain," she said.
"The hippocampus plays an integral role in spatial navigation, learning and memory, and is a major site for adult neurogenesis."
Mice lacking the gene that regulates glial cell differentiation exhibit major developmental irregularities, including catastrophic structural deformities of the hippocampus.
Equipped with this knowledge, researchers studying the hippocampus now have a better understanding of the genes that help control the development of this vital brain region. Fundamental scientific knowledge of this kind is an essential step in understanding brain function and repair.
Research Australia
According to QBI's Associate Professor Linda Richards, despite the crucial role performed by the hippocampus throughout life, knowledge of this region's early development remains surprisingly scant. Her research team is looking at how the brain forms during embryonic and foetal development.
Dr Richards and her colleagues have identified a gene that regulates the development of glial cells in the hippocampus. Their research shows that the hippocampus contains different populations of glial cells that are essential for the structural integrity of the hippocampus.
"Glial cells are an important part of the building blocks of the brain," Dr Richards said.
"They provide an essential scaffold for the migration of neurons in the developing brain. It is vital we understand how glial cells provide this structural scaffold because if the hippocampus is not formed correctly it cannot perform all the functions required of it in the developing and adult brain," she said.
"The hippocampus plays an integral role in spatial navigation, learning and memory, and is a major site for adult neurogenesis."
Mice lacking the gene that regulates glial cell differentiation exhibit major developmental irregularities, including catastrophic structural deformities of the hippocampus.
Equipped with this knowledge, researchers studying the hippocampus now have a better understanding of the genes that help control the development of this vital brain region. Fundamental scientific knowledge of this kind is an essential step in understanding brain function and repair.
Research Australia
Hippocampus Current Events and Hippocampus News RSSEstrogen therapy likely must be given soon after menopause to provide stroke protection
For estrogen replacement to provide stroke protection, it likely must be given soon after levels drop because of menopause or surgical removal of the ovaries, scientists report in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Aiming to avoid damage to neurocognitive areas of the brain during cranial radiation
Radiation oncologists at Rush University Medical Center are intent on finding ways to avoid damage to the critically important hippocampus and limbic circuit of the brain when cranial radiation is required to treat existing or potential metastatic cancers.
Fighting Sleep, Penn Researchers Reverse the Cognitive Impairment Caused By Sleep Deprivation
A research collaboration led by biologists and neuroscientists at the University of Pennsylvania has found a molecular pathway in the brain that is the cause of cognitive impairment due to sleep deprivation.
Why antidepressants don't work for so many
More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief.
Alzheimer's researchers find high protein diet shrinks brain
One of the many reasons to pick a low-calorie, low-fat diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and fish is that a host of epidemiological studies have suggested that such a diet may delay the onset or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Exercise can aid recovery after brain radiation
Exercise is a key factor in improving both memory and mood after whole-brain radiation treatments in rodents, according to data presented by Duke University scientists at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.
New findings about brain proteins suggest possible way to fight Alzheimer's
The action of a small protein that is a major villain in Alzheimer's disease can be counterbalanced with another brain protein, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in an animal study.
Oleocanthal may help prevent, treat Alzheimer's
Oleocanthal, a naturally-occurring compound found in extra-virgin olive oil, alters the structure of neurotoxic proteins believed to contribute to the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. This structural change impedes the proteins' ability to damage brain nerve cells.
Rutgers Research: Direct Evidence of the Role of Sleep in Memory Formation is Uncovered
A Rutgers University, Newark and Collége de France, Paris research team has pinpointed for the first time the mechanism that takes place during sleep that causes learning and memory formation to occur.
Brain defect implicated in early schizophrenia
In the first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of its kind, neurologists and psychiatrists at Columbia University have identified an area of the brain involved in the earliest stages of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.
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The Hippocampus Book (Oxford Neuroscience Series) by Per Andersen (Editor), Richard Morris (Editor), David Amaral (Editor), Tim Bliss (Editor), John O'Keefe (Editor) The hippocampus is one of a group of remarkable structures embedded within the brain's medial temporal lobe. Long known to be important for memory, it has been a prime focus of neuroscience research for many years. The Hippocampus Book promises to facilitate developments in the field in a major way by bringing together, for the first time, contributions by leading international scientists knowledgeable about hippocampal anatomy, physiology, and function. This authoritative volume offers the most comprehensive, up-to-date account of what the hippocampus does, how it does it, and what happens when things go wrong. At the same time, it illustrates how research focusing on this single brain structure has revealed principles of wider generality for the whole brain in relation to anatomical... |
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Neuronal Networks of the Hippocampus by Roger D. Traub (Author), Richard Miles (Author) The questions of how a large population of neurons in the brain functions, how synchronized firing of neurons is achieved, and what factors regulate how many and which neurons fire under different conditions form the central theme of this book. Using a combined experimental-theoretical approach unique in neuroscience, the authors present important new techniques for the physiological reconstruction of a large biological neuronal network. They begin by discussing experimental studies of the CA3 hippocampal region in vitro, focusing on single-cell and synaptic electrophysiology, particularly the effects a single neuron exerts on its neighbors. This is followed by a description of a computer model of the system, first for individual cells then for the entire detailed network, and the model... | |
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Gateway to Memory: An Introduction to Neural Network Modeling of the Hippocampus and Learning (Issues in Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology) by Mark A. Gluck (Author), Catherine E. Myers (Author) "Gateway to Memory is an exciting and badly needed text that integrates computational and neurobiological approaches to memory. Authoritative and clearly written, this book will be valuable for students and researchers alike." -- Daniel L. Schacter, Professor and Chair of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Searching for Memory This book is for students and researchers who have a specific interest in learning and memory and want to understand how computational models can be integrated into experimental research on the hippocampus and learning. It emphasizes the function of brain structures as they give rise to behavior, rather than the molecular or neuronal details. It also emphasizes the process of modeling, rather than the mathematical details of the models... |
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Hippocampal Place Fields: Relevance to Learning and Memory by Sheri J.Y. Mizumori (Editor) Data from neuropsychological and animal research suggest that the hippocampus plays a pivotal role in two relatively different areas: active navigation, as well as episodic learning and memory. Recent studies have attempted to bridge these disparate accounts of hippocampal function by emphasizing the role that hippocampal place cells may play in processing the spatial contextual information that defines situations in which learned behaviors occur. A number of established laboratories are currently offering complementary interpretations of place fields, and this book will present the first common platform for them. Bringing together research from behavioral, genetic, physiological, computational, and neural-systems perspectives will provide a thorough understanding of the extent to which... |
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Neurologie Und Rehabilitation by Hippocampus Verlag Gmbh | |
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The Cruise Of The Hippocampus (1922) by Alfred Fullerton Loomis (Author) |
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Groovin' in the Hippocampus by Lisa Jones Bromfield | |
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The Hippocampus: Neurotransmission and Plasticity in the Nervous System by Philippe Taupin (Author) The hippocampus , the Greek word for seahorse, is one of the most fascinating and intriguing regions of the mammalian brain. It is a bilateral incurved seahorse-shaped structure of the cerebral cortex. The hippocampus has a highly distinctive morphology. It is composed of two regions, the dentate gyrus (DG) and the Cornu Ammonis (CA). The nerve cells of the main layer of the DG and CA regions, the granule cells and pyramidal cells respectively, are organised in a tri-synaptic lamellaire circuit. The granule and pyramidal cells are glutamatergic excitatory. The granule cells elicit unique histological, biochemical, developmental, physio- and pathological features.The hippocampus is also an area of the brain that elicits a high degree of plasticity, like synaptic and phenotypic plasticity.... |
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Hippocampus Invasion Dopefish (Primary Contributor) |
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Hippocampus (Potency: 7C) by Quinn Hippocampus is a homeopathic remedy available as medicated sugar pellets in C potencies and as a liquid in 2 dram (1/4 oz), 1oz, and 4 oz sizes. Potencies of 30C and above are also available in ½ dram vials for those who need only 1 to 10 doses. We recommend using potencies from 6C to 30C for use in self diagnosis and prescribing. Hippocampus can be used to treat a wide range of diseases, all of which have a unique general pattern of effects upon an individual. Homeopathic medicine seeks to treat the whole person and not just a symptom or two because we are whole beings and not collections of unrelated symptoms. |
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