To the question of the benefits of nicotine

The mechanism of the positive effect of nicotine on memory has been discovered

Copper newsAs a result of joint work, an international group of scientists has found out how nicotine helps improve memory, according to Medical Xpress (Discovery of gatekeeper nerve cells explains the effect of nicotine on learning and memory).

The results of the work of Swedish, Brazilian and American scientists are published in the journal Nature Neuroscience (OLM interneurons differently modulate CA3 and entorhinal inputs to hippocampal CA1 neurons – VM).

The researchers studied the hippocampus, the structure of the brain involved in the formation of emotions and responsible for spatial memory (in the figure from the website sciencephoto.com it is highlighted in red).

It is believed that the hippocampus is responsible for isolating important parts from the general flow of information, as well as for translating these episodes from short-term to long-term memory.

During an experiment on mice, scientists found out that a population of neurons called OLM cells, which is involved in regulating the activity of hippocampal neural networks and maintains the excitability of the so-called main neurons at the proper level, is also responsible for the interaction of this brain structure with nicotine.

"In our work, we used a new technology called optogenetics. Its meaning is to use light to stimulate specific neurons. We saw that light activates cells that change the flow of information in the hippocampus in the same way as nicotine," said the first author of the article, Richardson Leao from Rio Grande do Norte State University, Brazil.

Scientists have proved that OLM cells, which they call "guard cells", are connected to the main neurons of the hippocampus. At the same time, active "watchdog" cells transmit signals received from neurons located in the hippocampus, and inactive ones transmit impulses received from "external" neurons. It turned out that nicotine activates OLM cells, as a result of which a greater number of local hippocampal signals reach their target. This, in turn, contributes to the transfer of information from short-term to long-term memory.

"Nicotine is known to improve cognitive processes, including learning and memorization, but the population of nerve cells associated with this effect has been identified for the first time," said the head of the study, Professor Klas Kullander from Uppsala University (Sweden).

In the future, the authors of the work want to develop a method of influencing memory by activating "watchdog" neurons.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.10.2012