Scientists have uncovered the role of the intestine in the formation of long-term memory
- Новости
- Society
- Scientists have uncovered the role of the intestine in the formation of long-term memory
Signals from the digestive system help the brain determine which events related to food should be stored in memory. This was reported on July 29 by the Science Daily portal.
A group of researchers led by Scott Kanosky, professor of biological sciences at the Dornsife College of Literature, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, studied the vagus nerve, one of the main communication pathways between the gut and the brain. It turned out that this channel not only controls appetite and satiety, but also transmits data for the formation of memories.
In experiments on rats, biologists have found that eating nutritious foods increases acetylcholine levels in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for learning and memory.
This process was directly dependent on signals coming from the intestine through the vagus nerve. When scientists interrupted this connection, the level of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine stopped growing after eating, and the animals began to navigate worse in space when searching for food.
Logan Lauer, a graduate student in Kanosky's lab and the first author of the study
We believe that this mechanism probably evolved to help animals remember important information about food sources.
Experiments have shown that the brain reacts precisely to the nutritional value of foods, and not to their taste. Sugar or fat intake caused high activity in memory pathways, while low-calorie sugary liquids did not have a similar effect. The body prioritizes those meals that provide it with energy.
However, prolonged consumption of unhealthy foods high in sugar and fat is claimed to have the opposite effect. For example, in rodents that ate fast food from an early age, the connection between the intestine and the hippocampus weakened. The disorders persisted even after switching to a healthy diet.
Scott Kanoski
Disruption of acetylcholine signaling in the hippocampus is one of the earliest neurochemical changes in Alzheimer's disease.
According to the authors, the discovery may help in the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. In particular, we are talking about stimulating the vagus nerve to maintain cognitive functions. Scientists claim that additional research is needed to confirm similar processes in the human body.
On July 26, Medical Xpress reported on the effect of the diet on cognitive functions. According to the publication, limiting daily meals to eight to nine hours can moderately improve spatial planning and problem solving in overweight or obese women over the age of 50.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
