Memories could be lost if two key brain regions fail to sync together,
study finds

Date:
March 15, 2023
Source:
University of Bristol
Summary:
Learning, remembering something, and recalling memories is supported
by multiple separate groups of neurons connected inside and across
key regions in the brain. If these neural assemblies fail to sync
together at the right time, the memories are lost, a new study
has found.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Learning, remembering something, and recalling memories is supported
by multiple separate groups of neurons connected inside and across key
regions in the brain. If these neural assemblies fail to sync together at
the right time, the memories are lost, a new study led by the universities
of Bristol and Heidelberg has found.


==========================================================================
How do you keep track of what to do next? What happens in the brain when
your mind goes blank? Short-term memory relies on two key brain regions:
the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. The researchers set out to
establish how these brain regions interact with one another as memories
are formed, maintained and recalled at the level of specific groups
of neurons. The study, published in Currently Biology, also wanted to understand why memory sometimes fails.

"Neural assemblies" -- groups of neurons that join forces to process information -- were first proposed over 70 years ago, but have proved
difficult to pinpoint.

Using brain recordings in rats, the research team has shown that memory encoding, storage and recall is supported by dynamic interactions
incorporating multiple neural assemblies formed within and between
the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. When the coordination of these assemblies fails, the animals made mistakes.

Dr Michał Kucewicz, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Gdansk
University of Technology, formerly a PhD student at the University of
Bristol, and lead author, said: "Our results make potential therapeutic interventions for memory restoration more challenging to target in space
and time. On the other hand, our findings have identified critical
processes that determine a success or failure in remembering. These
present viable targets for therapeutic interventions on the level of
neural assembly interactions." Matt Jones, Professor of Neuroscience
in the School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience and Bristol Neuroscience and senior author of the paper, added: "Our findings add
to evidence that the neural substrates of memory are more distributed in anatomical space and dynamic across time than previously thought based on
the neuropsychological models." The next steps for the research would be
to modulate neural assembly interactions, either using drugs or via brain stimulation, which Dr Kucewicz is currently doing in human patients,
to test whether disrupting or augmenting them would impair or enhance remembering. The research team presumes the same mechanisms would work
in human patients to restore memory functions impaired in a particular
brain disorder.

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========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Bristol. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Aleksander P.F. Domanski, Michal T. Kucewicz, Eleonora Russo,
Mark D.

Tricklebank, Emma S.J. Robinson, Daniel Durstewitz, Matt W. Jones.

Distinct hippocampal-prefrontal neural assemblies coordinate
memory encoding, maintenance, and recall. Current Biology, 2023;
DOI: 10.1016/ j.cub.2023.02.029 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230315132454.htm

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