Скачать или смотреть Neurotransmitter regulation of a memory mechanism, Harry Gardner

The brain works on electrical impulses, and the ability of brain cells to change this electrical conductivity underpins learning and memory. The ability of certain regions of the brain to learn can be influenced by prior electrical activity in completely separate areas of the brain. This is termed metaplasticity and is a crucial memory mechanism which appears to be dysregulated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. I investigated the trigger of this effect by replacing this prior electrical activity with a chemical which acts like the one that starts this chain reaction. I found a difference in the trigger of the mechanism compared to other major brain memory regions. This novel data helps further understand the complexity of this strange phenomenon. This is crucial because understanding these processes helps us generate treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s which have rising incidence rates due to our ageing population.