News tagged with hippocampus
Genetic predictors of postpartum depression uncovered
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have discovered specific chemical alterations in two genes that, when present during pregnancy, reliably predict whether a woman will develop postpartum depression.
Psychology & Psychiatry
May 21, 2013 |
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Evidence that brains re-wire themselves following damage or injury
(Medical Xpress)—Scientists from the United States and Australia have advanced our understanding of brain plasticity by showing that the brain forms complex new circuits after damage, often far from the ...
Neuroscience
May 15, 2013 |
4.3 / 5 (8) |
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Getting a grip on sleep
All mammals sleep, as do birds and some insects. However, how this basic function is regulated by the brain remains unclear. According to a new study by researchers from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, ...
Neuroscience
May 14, 2013 |
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Serotonin mediates exercise-induced generation of new neurons
Mice that exercise in running wheels exhibit increased neurogenesis in the brain. Crucial to this process is serotonin signaling. These are the findings of a study by researchers at the Max Delbrück Center ...
Neuroscience
May 13, 2013 |
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Scientists reveal drinking champagne could improve memory
(Medical Xpress)—New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with ageing, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, ...
Health
May 08, 2013 |
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Cellular environment controls formation and activity of neuronal connections
Environment moulds behaviour - and not just that of people in society, but also at the microscopic level. This is because, for their function, neurons are dependent on the cell environment, the so-termed ...
Neuroscience
May 06, 2013 |
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Researchers reveal new more precise method of performing electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute treatment for severe major depression. However, even with newer forms of ECT, there remains a significant risk of adverse cognitive effects, particularly memory ...
Psychology & Psychiatry
May 06, 2013 |
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ECE: Abnormal metabolites found in cured cushing's patients
(HealthDay)—Patients with Cushing's syndrome have abnormal brain metabolites suggestive of neuronal dysfunction even after they appeared to have been cured, according to a study presented at the annual ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 03, 2013 |
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Study finds analysis of many species required to better understand the brain
To get a clear picture of how humans and other mammals form memories and find their way through their surroundings, neuroscientists must pay more attention to a broad range of animals rather than focus on ...
Neuroscience
Apr 29, 2013 |
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CI therapy produces increase in grey matter in brains of children with cerebral palsy
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) report that children with cerebral palsy who underwent Constraint Induced Movement therapy (CI therapy) saw a significant increase in grey matter ...
Neuroscience
Apr 23, 2013 |
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Embryonic stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice
For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember. A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first ...
Medical research
Apr 21, 2013 |
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High levels of glutamate in brain may kick-start schizophrenia
An excess of the brain neurotransmitter glutamate may cause a transition to psychosis in people who are at risk for schizophrenia, reports a study from investigators at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) published ...
Neuroscience
Apr 18, 2013 |
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Going places: Rat brain 'GPS' maps routes to rewards
While studying rats' ability to navigate familiar territory, Johns Hopkins scientists found that one particular brain structure uses remembered spatial information to imagine routes the rats then follow. ...
Neuroscience
Apr 17, 2013 |
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New learning and memory neurons uncovered
(Medical Xpress)—A University of Queensland study has identified precisely when new neurons become important for learning.
Neuroscience
Apr 11, 2013 |
3.8 / 5 (4) |
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Scientists can see which cells communicate with each other in the brain, by flipping a neural light switch
There are cells in your brain that recognize very specific places, and have that as one of their main jobs. These cells, called place cells, are found in an area behind your temple called the hippocampus. ...
Neuroscience
Apr 04, 2013 |
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Hippocampus
The hippocampus is a major component of the brains of humans and other mammals. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in long-term memory and spatial navigation. Like the cerebral cortex, with which it is closely associated, it is a paired structure, with mirror-image halves in the left and right sides of the brain. In humans and other primates, the hippocampus is located inside the medial temporal lobe, beneath the cortical surface. Its curved shape reminded early anatomists of the horns of a ram (Cornu Ammonis), or a seahorse. The name, in fact, was taken by the sixteenth century anatomist Julius Caesar Aranzi from the Greek word for seahorse (Greek: ιππος, hippos = horse, καμπος, kampos = sea monster).
In Alzheimer's disease the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage; memory problems and disorientation appear among the first symptoms. Damage to the hippocampus can also result from oxygen starvation (hypoxia), encephalitis, or medial temporal lobe epilepsy. People with extensive hippocampal damage may experience amnesia—the inability to form or retain new memories.
In rodents, the hippocampus has been studied extensively as part of the brain system responsible for spatial memory and navigation. Many neurons in the rat and mouse hippocampus respond as place cells: that is, they fire bursts of action potentials when the animal passes through a specific part of its environment. Hippocampal place cells interact extensively with head direction cells, whose activity acts as an inertial compass, and with grid cells in the neighboring entorhinal cortex.
Because of its densely packed layers of neurons, the hippocampus has frequently been used as a model system for studying neurophysiology. The form of neural plasticity known as long-term potentiation (LTP) was first discovered to occur in the hippocampus and has often been studied in this structure. LTP is widely believed to be one of the main neural mechanisms by which memory is stored in the brain.
For more information about Hippocampus, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
