A quarter-century ago, researchers discovered that adults, not just developing infants, can generate new brain cells, a process called neurogenesis. But it's still not clear what role these new neurons play in health or disease.
in the hippocampus, leading to a profound rewiring of a brain circuit critical for memory. The mice also experienced a slow but progressive decline in working memory .biochemical changesEven though the brain circuit changed in a way that impaired memory, the circuit did form new, but dysfunctional, connections that could be recruited to improve memory.and what started out as a subtle defect in acetylcholine," Dranovsky says,"and they just needed a little nudge.
The researchers suspected that the remodeled circuit had sufficient reserves of acetylcholine but couldn't release it when needed. Using a drug, the researchers nudged the circuit to release more acetylcholine and completely rescued the memory deficits even in aged mice. "The results suggest that we have to revisit old notions about the aging brain," says Dranovsky."It seems to be more plastic than we've thought."
Cholinesterase inhibitors have been used to treat patients with Alzheimer's disease, with little success."We think this drug, and many others, have failed because they're focused on one type of cell or molecule. What our findings tell us is that we probably need to address the fact that the whole memory circuit is compromised in aging and dementia."Greer S.
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