An unprecedented discovery by researchers at New York University (NYU) suggests that memory formation occurs in cells other than the brain. This study may significantly influence the treatment of memory-related disorders and learning strategies.
The long-held belief that memories are stored only in brain cells has been called into question by this study. Rather, NYU researchers found that cells in different areas of the body have a memory function, suggesting that learning by repetition may occur at the cellular level. This means that our body’s ability to “remember” extends beyond the brain, with every cell potentially having the power to adjust in response to past events.
“Learning and memory are typically associated with the brain and brain cells alone, but our study shows that other cells in the body can also learn and form memories,” explains the study’s lead author, Nikolay V. Kukushkin of New York University. Can make.” appears in Journal Nature Communications.
The research sought to better understand whether non-brain cells help memory by borrowing from a long-established neurological property – the mass-space effect – which shows that we perceive memory in short intervals rather than in single ones. When we study, we retain information better. Intensive sessions—known as cramming for tests.
In Nature Communications research, scientists studied learning over time by studying two types of non-brain human cells (one from neural tissue and one from kidney tissue) in the laboratory and exposing them to different patterns of chemical signals, just like brain cells. repeated. We are exposed to patterns of neurotransmitters when we learn new information. In response, non-brain cells turned on a “memory gene” – the same gene that brain cells turn on when they detect a pattern in information and reorganize their connections to form memories.
“This shows the mass-space effect in action,” says Kukushkin, a clinical associate professor of life sciences in NYU Liberal Studies and a research fellow in NYU’s Center for Neural Science. “This demonstrates that the ability to learn by spaced repetition is not unique to brain cells, but may, in fact, be a fundamental property of all cells.”
Researchers say the findings not only offer new ways to study memory, but also point to potential health benefits.
“This discovery opens new doors to understanding how memory works and could lead to better ways to enhance learning and treat memory problems,” says Kukushkin. “At the same time, it suggests that in the future, we will need our bodies to behave more like our brains—for example, to tell our pancreas about our past eating patterns to maintain healthy levels of blood glucose. Consider what I remember or whether a cancer cell remembers the pattern of chemotherapy.”
