Tag

Hippocampus

All articles tagged with #hippocampus

health-and-medicine11 hours ago•8 min saved

Depression May Stop New Brain Cells From Forming in Adults, Altering Memory

A large Columbia-led study shows major depressive disorder disrupts neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus, potentially impairing pattern separation and the ability to store distinct memories. The researchers mapped widespread molecular and epigenetic changes across the hippocampal network, linking inflammation and altered gene programs to depression and suggesting new targets for treatments that classify depression by molecular subtype rather than brain region.

via Science Daily|

#depression #health-and-medicine #hippocampus

health1 day ago•10 min saved

Hippocampal Neurogenesis Halts in Adults with Major Depression

Columbia University researchers link major depressive disorder to stalled adult hippocampal neurogenesis, showing reduced neuron birth impairs pattern separation and emotional memory. Post-mortem analysis of about half a million brain cells reveals gene and epigenetic changes, including inflammation, pointing to neurogenesis as a therapeutic target and suggesting depression could be classified by molecular features rather than brain region.

via News-Medical|

#depression #epigenetics #health

health6 days ago•12 min saved

Why traumatic memories come in fragments and feel like the present moment

Traumatic memories are not stored or recalled like ordinary memories; during trauma, the amygdala stays highly active while the hippocampus is overwhelmed, causing memories to break into sensory fragments and to be relived as if the threat is happening now. This non-linear recall can look inconsistent or even be misread as lying, especially by lawyers or clinicians. A trauma‑informed approach—empathy, careful language, and awareness that memory can be fragmented—improves support in healthcare, legal settings, and everyday relationships and can aid survivors’ healing.

via theconversation.com|

#amygdala #health #hippocampus

health8 days ago•8 min saved

Childhood trauma disrupts hippocampal reward circuits linked to adult anhedonia

Childhood trauma is linked to adult anhedonia via disrupted hippocampal interactions with mesolimbic reward circuits; fMRI in humans shows those with early life stress and hippocampal pathway disruption report higher anhedonia, highlighting memory-reward links and potential hippocampal targets to boost pleasure.

via News-Medical|

#anhedonia #childhood-trauma #health

health8 days ago•3 min saved

Map-Based Thinking: Learning Local Environments May Protect Your Brain

A new study suggests that people who rely less on GPS and actively learn their surroundings can strengthen the hippocampus and may lower Alzheimer's risk; building mental maps is linked to brain health, with prior London taxi driver research showing larger posterior hippocampus from route-learning, and a 2024 Harvard-led analysis finding that taxi and ambulance drivers had Alzheimer's death rates under 1%—far lower than the overall rate—compared with other transportation jobs. The takeaway isn’t to abandon GPS entirely but to exercise spatial navigation in daily life to potentially protect the brain as you age.

via Jalopnik|

#alzheimers-disease #brain-health #health

science10 days ago•5 min saved

Depression Tied to Shrinkage in a Key Memory Hub in the Brain

A USC-led study using MRI and PET scans of over 2,000 cognitively normal adults found that depression is linked to a smaller CA23DG portion of the hippocampus (comprising CA2/CA3 and the dentate gyrus), an association that largely held even after accounting for Alzheimer's risk factors. Antidepressant use and longer duration of depression were also associated with greater volume reductions in related hippocampal subregions, though the findings are correlational and do not establish causation or warrant changing treatment. Further longitudinal research is needed to understand the mechanisms at play.

via ScienceAlert|

#alzheimers-disease-risk #antidepressants #ca23dg

science11 days ago•139 min saved

Memory persists after artificial hibernation in mice, study finds

Researchers induced artificial hibernation in mice and found that although hippocampal synapses were massively pruned within 24 hours, the animals retained memories of prior training, suggesting memories rely on resilient, clustered engram patterns and broader network topology rather than individual strong synapses.

via Live Science|

#engram #hibernation #hippocampus

science12 days ago•5 min saved

Dendrites Make Neurons Multi-Processors, Revealing Hidden Brain Power

Researchers using voltage-imaging in mice show dendrites can compute independently of the cell body, effectively turning a neuron into a multi-processor. In novel environments, some dendrites encode new locations before the soma and can preserve past activity as memory traces, suggesting dendrites act as local memory devices and that brain power is much greater than previously thought due to complex dendritic architectures.

via Scientific American|

#brain-computation #dendrites #hippocampus

neuroscience13 days ago•28 min saved

Triple-brain controller orchestrates continuous goal-directed decisions

A continuous prey-pursuit task reveals that naturalistic, goal-directed behavior is governed by a control-theoretic blend of multiple lower-level policies, managed by a meta-controller that shifts policy composition. Neural data show the anterior cingulate cortex signals major policy switches, the hippocampus encodes latent policy states for early planning, and the orbitofrontal cortex represents the task's value structure, supporting a tripartite view in which the hippocampus estimates state, ACC orchestrates control, and OFC provides value context for flexible decision-making.

via Nature|

#anterior-cingulate-cortex #decision-making #hippocampus

neuroscience13 days ago•81 min saved

Ripple highways bind distant brain regions to sustain working memory

Intracranial recordings from epilepsy patients performing a Sternberg working memory task show that high-frequency ripple oscillations co-occur across distant brain regions (up to ~220 mm) and boost cross-regional neuronal co-firing by ~30% during encoding, maintenance, and retrieval. Co-ripples scale with memory load and, during retrieval, reinstate stimulus-specific long-range co-firing patterns observed at encoding, indicating ripple-mediated coordination supports distributed memory representations across hippocampus, amygdala, vmPFC, ACC and preSMA.

via Nature|

#cross-regional-co-firing #hippocampus #neuroscience

science13 days ago•89 min saved

Reactivating hippocampal PV interneuron plasticity reverses deficits in a neurodevelopmental disorder model

Researchers identify regulators of experience-dependent PV interneuron plasticity (XPGs) in the CA3/CA2 hippocampal circuit and show that adult upregulation of the Meis2 gene in PV interneurons restores this plasticity. This restoration improves ensemble activity and sharp-wave ripple dynamics, reduces seizures, and enhances cognition in a CNTNAP2-based neurodevelopmental disorder model, suggesting PV interneuron plasticity as a convergent, targetable mechanism to reverse developmental circuitry and cognitive deficits.

via Nature|

#hippocampus #meis2 #neurodevelopmental-disorders

health19 days ago•12 min saved

Brain maps as a shield: how navigation-heavy work could guard against Alzheimer's

New research suggests taxi and ambulance drivers have a lower risk of dying from Alzheimer's, likely because constant real-time navigation strengthens hippocampal brain maps. Studies also link living in spatially complex environments or doing map-heavy work to greater hippocampal volume and cognitive reserve, potentially delaying dementia symptoms. While it’s unclear if screen-based spatial tasks confer the same protection, promoting spatial reasoning in education and jobs may support brain health.

via theconversation.com|

#alzheimers-disease #cognitive-reserve #geospatial-thinking

neuroscience20 days ago•28 min saved

Super movers: fast-walking seniors show brain resilience, not less Alzheimer's pathology

New analysis across three large aging cohorts shows that adults 80+ who maintain exceptionally fast walking speeds (“super movers”) have about a 50% lower risk of developing cognitive impairment and slower cognitive decline. MRI data from Ashkenazi Jewish elders revealed larger right hippocampal volumes and steadier processing speed/visuospatial skills, while autopsy data found similar Alzheimer's pathology to slower walkers, suggesting resilience rather than reduced disease. The findings are observational, so causality can’t be inferred, and generalizability may be limited; researchers call for diverse samples and exploration of lifestyle factors that promote healthy brain aging.

via PsyPost|

#aging #brain-resilience #cognitive-aging

science26 days ago•7 min saved

Midlife Brain Remodeling Rewrites Immune Landscape, Linking to Inflammation and Dementia Risk

A Science study of ~320,000 hippocampal cells from 40 healthy people aged 20–95 finds a midlife tipping point around age 50, where aging brains undergo extensive cellular remodeling: original microglia appear replaced by blood-derived monocytes, astrocytes lose energy-related activity and decline, and 3D genome organization degrades, leading to higher inflammation and a potential dementia risk, with some differences between men and women.

via sciencealert.com|

#aging #brain #hippocampus

science27 days ago•5 min saved

Gut-to-brain signals via the vagus nerve boost memory formation in rats

A USC-led rat study shows a nutritious meal triggers a gut-to-brain signal via the vagus nerve that boosts acetylcholine release in the medial septum and hippocampus, strengthening memory-related brain activity; fats and sugars intensified the effect while a Western junk-food diet early in life weakened it. The effect depends on intact vagal afferents and septal acetylcholine neurons, and may not translate directly to humans, but points to gut-brain targets and vagus nerve stimulation as potential therapies—though further research is needed and the study used male rats only.

via ScienceAlert|

#acetylcholine #gut-brain-axis #hippocampus