Category Health/Medical

The hippocampus is a region of the brain largely responsible for memory formation. Credit: Salk Institute

A combined team of researchers have found 3 types of repressive regulations in the hippocampus of mice that impact memory retention. To gain a better idea of how genes are involved in the memory making process, the researchers trained several mice to fear being put into a cage, by administering electric shocks. They then killed the mice after differing amounts of time had passed (five minutes, ten minutes , a half hour and at four hours) and performed RNA sequencing and ribosome profiling on the hippocampus. Doing so led to the identification of 104 genes that deviated from a control group, each with either translation or transcription differences.

In studying the data, the researchers...

Highlights •Timeless interacts with PARP-1 independent of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation •Crystal structures of Timeless PAB in free form and in complex with PARP-1 •Specific recognition of PARP-1 by Timeless does not affect its enzymatic activity •PARP-1 is required for Timeless recruitment to DSB sites to promote HR repair

A new molecular mechanism for DNA repair involving an unexpected interaction between PARP-1 protein and sleep proteins in humans has been found. While it is a well-known fact that sleep is important to the body’s recovery and healing, knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that make this possible is incomplete...

RGFP966 is an HDAC3 inhibitor

Clues to keeping brain cells alive in those with Alzheimer’s. A drug now being used to treat cancer might make it easier to learn a language, sharpen memory and help those with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease by rewiring the brain and keeping neurons alive. New research found that a drug – RGFP966 – administered to rats made them more attuned to what they were hearing, able to retain and remember more information, and develop new connections that allowed these memories to be transmitted between brain cells.”This drug could rescue the ability to make new memories that are rich in detail and content, even in the worst case scenarios.”

What happens with dementias such as Alzheimer’s is that brain cells shrink and die because the synapses that transfer informatio...

In 1953, a man named Henry Molaison underwent a surgery which removed most of his hippocampus in an attempt to cure his epileptic seizures. The surgery was a qualified success though, because in addition to curing him of seizures he also lost the ability to form new long term memories. It was Molaison’s memory problems that led doctors to conclude that the hippocampus was the part of the brain responsible for long term memory.

IBS Center for RNA Research used a tool called Ribosome profiling (RPF) as well as RNA-seq to analyze mouse hippocampi...