‘Persistent Cells’ Are Key to Long-Term and Working Memory
Cedars-Sinai Study Finds That the Hippocampus, the Brain Region First Affected by Alzheimer’s Disease, Houses These Essential Cells
The same brain cells that help us keep a phone number in mind long enough to dial it also contribute to storing that number in long-term memory, according to a new study from Cedars-Sinai investigators. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron, could provide a new target for treating memory disorders.
These cells are located in the hippocampus, the brain area affected in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the earliest symptoms of which are working memory deficits.
“Working and long-term memory are different types of memory that were previously thought to be supported by different parts of the brain,” said Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, director of Neural Science and Medicine and professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai and senior author of the study. “Based on this study and our previous work, we have concluded that the hippocampus, long known to support long-term memory, is often essential for working memory as well. In fact, neurons in the hippocampus that we have named ‘persistently active cells’ are critical for both types of memory. Protecting or restoring these cells could help in treating the devastating effects of memory disorders.”
Additional authors: Jonathan Daume, Jan Kamiński, Yousef Salimpour, Andrea Gómez Palacio Schjetnan, William S. Anderson, Taufik A. Valiante, Adam N. Mamelak
Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (U01NS117839 to U.R.), a Postdoctoral Fellowship by the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (to J.D.) and a Postdoctoral Award by the Center for Neural Science and Medicine at Cedars-Sinai (to J.D.).
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