Yale Researchers Show How Memory Is Lost — and Found

[TECH NEWS]

Yale University researchers can’t tell you where you left your car keys — but they can tell you why you can’t find them. A new study published July 27 in the journal Nature shows that the neural networks in the brains of the middle-aged and elderly have weaker connections and fire less robustly than in youthful ones. Intriguingly, note the scientists, the research suggests that this condition is reversible. Amy Arnsten and her research team studied the firing of prefrontal cortical neurons in young, middle-aged and old animals as they performed a working memory task. Neurons in the prefrontal cortex of the young animals were able to maintain firing at a high rate during working memory, while neurons in older animals showed slower firing rates. However, when the researchers adjusted the neurochemical environment around the neurons to be more similar to that of a younger subject, the neuronal firing rates were restored to more youthful levels. One of the compounds that enhanced neuronal firing was guanfacine, a medication that is already approved for treating hypertension in adults and prefrontal deficits in children, suggesting that it may be helpful in the elderly as well, note the researchers. Arnsten’s finding is already moving to the clinical setting.

7/27/2011, Yale Office of Public Affairs and Communications