Long-term stress erases memory. Free Technical Library News

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Prolonged stress erases memory

08.03.2016

Ohio State University researchers have found that long-term stress is bad for short-term memory. In other words, what we remember, for example, from childhood, we will remember, but something we just read, or some urgent task, may well fly out of our heads - if we are in prolonged psychological stress. However, to say "we" here means to somewhat overtake events: so far, experiments have only been carried out here on mice.

First, Jonathan P. Godbout and his colleagues taught mice how to find a way out of a maze, and after the animals remembered where to go, a larger and more aggressive “guest” was placed next to them several times in a row. The mice soon showed the tell-tale signs of psychological stress: they became anxious, avoided social contact altogether, and so on. But, most importantly, they forgot their way out of the maze. Those who were not satisfied with stress remembered the right way, as before. Memory problems continued for several more weeks after the mice were no longer frightened by a brazen and strong neighbor.

At the same time, signs of inflammation appeared in the brains of stressed animals, in particular, the number of macrophage immune cells increased. Particular attention was paid to the hippocampus, an area of the brain that serves as one of the main memory centers and is simultaneously involved in emotional reactions. (Naturally, the connection between psychological stress and memory was primarily sought in it.)

For some time after stress, fewer new neurons appeared in the hippocampus than usual. When the mice were given an anti-inflammatory drug, memory problems disappeared and the number of macrophages in the hippocampus decreased, although depressive behavior and problems with new nerve cells persisted.

The general conclusion is this: stress through the immune system increases the inflammatory background in the brain, which, in turn, weakens short-term memory - at least that part of it that relates to spatial orientation. The connection between stress and inflammation is now being actively explored by all possible methods, since the inflammatory reaction, although not very strong and sluggish, can cause a lot of trouble, increasing the likelihood of a variety of diseases, including diabetes and cancer.

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