Inflammation found to impair the hippocampus by affecting complex discrimination memory, ability to differentiate between similar experiences
news.uci.edu
FTA:
In the rodents that received the bacterial agent (and exhibited memory deterioration), the networks of neurons activated in the two environments were very similar, unlike those in the animals not given the agent (whose memories remained strong). This finding suggests that cytokines impaired recall by disrupting the function of these specific neuron circuits in the hippocampus.
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“The cytokines caused the neural network to react as if no learning had taken place,” said Guzowski, associate professor of neurobiology & behavior. “The neural circuit activity was back to the pattern seen before learning.”