by way of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
media_psyche
May. 17th, 2004 09:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheStudy in Flies Allows Researchers to Visualize Formation of a Memory
In the new study, Ronald L. Davis, Ph.D and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston developed fruit flies with special genes that caused the flies neuronal connections to become fluorescent during nerve signaling (synaptic transmission). They then exposed the flies to brief puffs of an odor while they received a shock. This caused them to learn a new association between the odor and the shock – a type of learning called classical conditioning.
Using a high-powered microscope to watch the fluorescent signals in flies brains with as they learned, the researchers discovered that a specific set of neurons, called projection neurons, had a greater number of active connections with other neurons after the conditioning experiment. These newly active connections appeared within 3 minutes after the experiment, suggesting that the synapses which became active after the learning took place were already formed but remained "silent" until they were needed to represent the new memory. The new synaptic activity disappeared by 7 minutes after the experiment, but the flies continued to avoid the odor they associated with the shock.
This is the first time that optical imaging has been used to visualize a memory trace, Dr. Davis says. "Its phenomenally powerful, like a movie appearing in front of you," he adds. The study suggests that the earliest representation of a new memory occurs by rapid changes – "like flipping a switch" – in the number of neuronal connections that respond to the odor, rather than by formation of new connections or by an increase in the number of neurons that represent an odor, he adds.
In the new study, Ronald L. Davis, Ph.D and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston developed fruit flies with special genes that caused the flies neuronal connections to become fluorescent during nerve signaling (synaptic transmission). They then exposed the flies to brief puffs of an odor while they received a shock. This caused them to learn a new association between the odor and the shock – a type of learning called classical conditioning.
Using a high-powered microscope to watch the fluorescent signals in flies brains with as they learned, the researchers discovered that a specific set of neurons, called projection neurons, had a greater number of active connections with other neurons after the conditioning experiment. These newly active connections appeared within 3 minutes after the experiment, suggesting that the synapses which became active after the learning took place were already formed but remained "silent" until they were needed to represent the new memory. The new synaptic activity disappeared by 7 minutes after the experiment, but the flies continued to avoid the odor they associated with the shock.
This is the first time that optical imaging has been used to visualize a memory trace, Dr. Davis says. "Its phenomenally powerful, like a movie appearing in front of you," he adds. The study suggests that the earliest representation of a new memory occurs by rapid changes – "like flipping a switch" – in the number of neuronal connections that respond to the odor, rather than by formation of new connections or by an increase in the number of neurons that represent an odor, he adds.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-17 12:49 pm (UTC)ONCe again I AM just kidding.. LOl
man you have a really interesting life, hows that baby of yours doing?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-17 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-18 11:06 am (UTC)Very similar posts... So sorry LOL....
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-18 11:07 am (UTC)YOU need your time,
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-18 11:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-19 09:38 am (UTC)lol
either way.. the world is wayyy over populated... I will adopt my next kids lol.