A study in mice identifies a group of brain cells called parvalbumin interneurons (PVIs) in a region of the brain's hippocampus known as ventral CA1 that are implicated in social memory retrieval and the ability to distinguish familiar and unfamiliar individuals of the same species, suggesting that deficits in PVI activity may contribute to social memory deficits in mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, according to the authors.
###
Article #18-19133: "Parvalbumin interneuron in the ventral hippocampus functions as a discriminator in social memory," by Xiaofei Deng, Lijia Gu, Nan Sui, Jianyou Guo, and Jing Liang
MEDIA CONTACT: Jing Liang, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, CHINA; tel: +86-10-64857268; e-mail: liangj@psych.ac.cn
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences