Not only the brain but also other organs of the body can store memory; study shows

Study reveals how human memory works, is stored New Delhi, November 9 (IANS) While the brain is commonly known for working and storing memories, a new study has revealed that the body Other parts of the can also store memory.

This study, published in the journal Nature Communications, may pave a new path for the treatment of memory related problems. “Other cells in the body can also learn and form memories,” said lead author Nikolay V. Kukushkin of New York University in the US. The researchers found that, similar to brain cells, non-brain cells also “turn on” memory genes. “–in response to new information. Brain cells turn on “memory genes” – when they detect a pattern in information and reorganize their connections to form memories.

Furthermore, to monitor memory and learning processes in non-brain cells, the team engineered these to produce a luminous protein – one that signals whether a memory gene is on or off. The experiment showed that non-brain cells could determine when chemical pulses that mimicked bursts of neurotransmitters in the brain were repeated. The team found that this process is similar to that in the brain when neurons record new learning. It was also found to be more efficient, such that neurons in our brain can register when we learn with breaks rather than accumulating all the material at once.

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The team said that when the pulses were delivered at different intervals, they turned on the “memory gene” more strongly and for longer than when the same treatment was given all at once. Kukushkin said the study showed, “the ability to learn by spaced repetition is not unique to brain cells”. “This may be a fundamental property of all cells,” the researcher said. In addition to offering new ways to study memory, the study also suggests treating “our body like a brain” for better health.