BBC Focus - 09.2019

DISCOVERIES

2 Thestrengthofa memoryliesinits
formationandupkeep.Whenwecreate
a memory,theaxonsofnervecellsinthe
brainconnect.Thepointat whichtwoaxons
connectis calleda synapse,andit is the
strengthofthesynapsethatdeterminesif the
memoryis storedorallowedtofadeaway.
Now,a studyinmicecarriedoutbyNobel
Prize-winningresearchersat Columbia
Universityhasshownthata proteincalled
CPEB3playsanimportantroleinthe
formationofmemories.Theteamdiscovered
howthisproteinis storedandusedinthe
brainandhopeit couldleadtonewmethods
ofslowingmemorylossinhumans.
“Thescienceofhowsynapsesformand
arestrengthenedovertimeis importantfor
decipheringanydisorderinwhichsynapses

• andthememoriesassociatedwiththem


• degradeanddie,suchasAlzheimer’s
  disease,”saidDrLuanaFioriti,whoco-
  authoredtheresearch.
  CPEB3is createdbythebrain’smemory
  centre,thehippocampus.Onceproduced,
  it is storedinstructurescalledP bodiesthat
  protectit fromotherpartsofthecell.It then
  travelstothesynapsebetweennervecells
  whererequiredandis graduallyreleasedto
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  is released at a synapse, the stronger the SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, GET T Y IMAGES, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSIT Y

Oneofthegreatgendermythshas,it

seems,beenbustedforgood:new

researchshowsthatmenandwomen

areequallygood(orbad)at

multitasking.Psychologistsin

Germanytestedthemultitasking

prowessof 48 menand 48 women,

usingle￿erandnumberidentification

tasks to measure the participants’

abilitytopaya￿entiontotwotasksat

once(concurrentmultitasking),

ortoswitcha￿entionbetween

tasks(sequentialmultitasking).

Multitaskinghada negativee￿ecton

boththeparticipants’speedandtheir

accuracy,buttherewasnodi￿erence

in performancebetween the men

and women.

News

in brief

MULTITASKING JUST AS HARD FOR WOMEN AS MEN

CPEB3(green)

inside a nerve cell

connectionandthus,themoreconcretethe

resultingmemorywillbe.Whentheprotein

wasremoved,themicecouldcreatenew

memoriesbutwereunabletokeepthem.As

a versionofCPEB3canbefoundinhuman

brains,thisdiscoveryrepresentsa promising

newavenueforresearchintomemoryloss.

“Memoryis whatmakesuswhoweare.

It permeates our lives and is fundamental

toourveryexistence,”saidNobelLaureate

DrEricKandel,whoco-authoredthe

research.“Butat itscore,memoryis a

biologicalprocess,notunlikea heartbeat.

Withthisstudy,we’veshednewlighton

themolecularunderpinningsbehindour

brain’sabilitytomake,keepandrecall

memoriesover the course of our lives,”

he added.

TheproteinCPEB3is createdinthe hippocampus
(red kidney-shaped areas)