Research groups at Hokkaido University, Kyoto University, and the University of Tokyo analyzed the effects of drugs that activate histamine nerves in the brain on memory in mice and humans.As a result, it became clear that if the histamine nerve is activated before the memory test, even the forgotten memory can be remembered.
I can't remember the memory after a long time.The problem is that we cannot remember with dementia such as aging and Alzheimer's disease.However, the memory may be revived at the moment, and it is thought that the memory that seems to be forgotten remains in the brain, but there is no way to freely recover the forgotten memory.On the other hand, histamine, which acts as an allergy-related substance, is also present in the brain and is said to be involved in sleep, appetite, and memory, and antihistamines that suppress histamine reduce memory performance.
Therefore, the research group is verifying whether it is possible to activate the histamine nerves in the brain to improve the ability to remember memory and restore forgotten memory.I showed the toy to the mouse and let him learn its shape.Normal mice forget after a week, but when given a drug that activates the histamine nervous system, they reminded me of toys.The function of this drug involved increased activity in a brain region called the olfactory cortex.In addition, in order to investigate the effect of similar drugs on improving human memory performance, 1 participants were shown many pictures, and many pictures were shown again in the memory test, and asked if they remembered the pictures.As a result, the correct answer rate increased with the drug.In particular, it was found that the effect of the drug was greater for participants who originally had poor memory performance.
The results of this research are expected to be useful for elucidating the mechanism of histamine and memory in the brain, and to contribute to the development of therapeutic agents for cognitive dysfunction such as Alzheimer's disease.
Paper information:[Biological Psychiatry] Central histamine boosts perirhinal cortex activity and restores forgotten object memories
