CAUSES OF THE LOSS OF MEMORY
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Memory loss is an important consequence of the aging process, but scientists have yet to clearly identify the reasons for the process.
Ron Davis, of The Scripps Research Institute (Florida, USA), and colleagues, studied the Drosophila, the common fruit fly and widely recognized as human alter ego for studies on aging human, to understand the mechanism that causes loss of long-term memory. The researchers studied the memory of the smell: it was an odor paired with a mild electric shock, and analyzed the short-term memories that persisted for about a half hour, the medium-term memory lasts a couple of hours and the long-term memory. The team used cell imaging in real-time to monitor changes in the activity of neurons of flies before and after learning.
The study authors found that: "Aging impairs the synthesis of a protein linked to neurons, decreasing neuronal connectivity"
The long-term memory requires new synapses and new proteins in order to form, with respect to short-term memory, which is built from existing proteins.
"Now that we know that the loss of long-term memory is a connection problem," said Davis, author of the study "To improve the long-term memory we are thinking about ways to rebuild those connections."
The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Source: Worldhealth
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