From h+ Magazine: "A new study [sheds] some light on how 'memory disturbances' in an aging mouse brain are associated with altered 'hippocampal chromatin plasticity' - the combination of DNA, histones, and other proteins that make up the chromosomes associated with the hippocampus. Specifically, the study describes an acetyl genetic switch that produces memory impairment in aging 16-month-old mice. Because the acetyl wasn't present in young 3-month-old mice, the study concludes that it acts as a switch for a cluster of learning and memory genes. ... when young mice are learning, an acetyl group binds to a particular point on the histone protein. The cluster of learning and memory genes on the surrounding DNA ends up close to the acetyl group. This acetyl group was missing in the older mice that had been given the same tasks. By injecting an enzyme known to encourage acetyl groups to bind to any kind of histone molecule, [researchers] flipped the acetyl genetic switch to the 'on' position in the older mice and their learning and memory performance became similar to that of 3-month-old mice. ... [Researchers hope] that the study of hippocampal chromatin plasticity and gene regulation in mice will help them to identify therapeutic strategies to encourage neuroplasticity (the formation of new neural networks in the brain), to improve learning behavior, and to recover seemingly lost long-term memories in human patients."

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.hplusmagazine.com/articles/neuro/switch-memory

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