Columbia University Medical Center | Long-term Memories Are Maintained by Prion-like Proteins
The molecules that maintain long-term memories in mice are a normal version of prion* proteins and work the same way as mechanisms in prions that cause mad cow disease, Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, and other degenerative brain diseases. That’s the conclusion of research from the lab of Nobel-winning neuroscientist Eric Kandel, MD, of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).
When long-term memories are created in the hippocampus of the brain, new connections are made between neurons to store the memory. But those physical connections must be maintained for a memory to persist, or else they will disintegrate and the memory will disappear within days. Many researchers have searched for molecules that maintain long-term memory, but their identity has remained elusive.
