Adam Ramsaran News Today

Researchers have found that increased neuron formation and the subsequent rewiring of neural circuits in the hippocampus through exercise or genetic manipulation helps mice forget traumatic or drug-associated memories. The findings could offer a new approach to treating mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder or drug addiction.

Researchers from the University of Toronto, Canada, and Kyushu University, Japan, have found that increased neuron formation and the subsequent rewiring of neural circuits in the hippocampus through exercise or genetic manipulation helps mice forget traumatic or drug-associated memories. The findings, reported on May 8 in Molecular Psychiatry, could offer a new approach to treating mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or drug addiction.

How do our brains become capable of creating specific memories? In one of the first preclinical studies to examine memory development in youth, a research team at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) may have identified a molecular cause for memory changes in early childhood.

Memory traces, or engrams, in adults are made up of 10 to 20 percent of neurons. However, in young children, the overall size of these engrams are doubled, with 20 to 40 percent of neurons that make up an engram supporting a memory.