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Just one brain cell is capable of holding fleeting memories vital for our
everyday life, according to US scientists.
A study of mouse brain cells revealed how they could keep information stored
for as long as a minute.
A UK specialist said that understanding these short-term memories might help
unlock the secrets of Alzheimer's Disease.
The finding was reported in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The difference between the brain's long-term and short-term memory has been
likened to the RAM of a computer and the hard-drive.
To perform normal functions, we need the ability to store, quickly and
reliably, large amounts of data, but only a small amount of this needs to be
retained in the longer term.
Scientists have spent decades working out which parts of the brain are
responsible for these functions, and how cells manage this feat.
Original theories suggested the memories were retained by multiple cells
forming "circuits" around which electrical impulses were fired for the
necessary period.
More recent ideas have centred around the concept that even an individual cell
could somehow hold on to information.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern looked at brain cells
taken from mice using tiny electrodes to measure their function.
They found that a particular component of the cells in question, a chemical
receptor, which, when switched on, tells the cell to start an internal signal
system that holds the "memory" in place.
Drug boost
The next step, they say, is to find out more about this internal system so that
it could be targeted by drugs with the aim of improving memory.
Dr Don Cooper, the lead researcher, said: "If we can identify and manipulate
the molecular components of memory, we can develop drugs that boost the ability
to maintain this memory trace to hopefully allow a person to complete tasks
without being distracted."
He said that this could potentially help people addicted to drugs, by improving
the ability of their brain to ignore impulses.
Professor Ian Forsythe, from the University of Leicester, said that the
information shed on the brain's ability to retain short-term information was
important in understanding the laying down of longer-term memories - and
perhaps to understand how to help people for whom that was a problem.
He said: "Probably the most interesting thing will be to get to grips with the
memory problems involved in Alzheimer's Disease.
"If you've got no short term memory, you've got no chance of longer-term
memories."