scholarly journals Variation in hippocampal morphology along an environmental gradient: controlling for the effects of day length

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1718) ◽  
pp. 2662-2667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C. Roth ◽  
Lara D. LaDage ◽  
Vladimir V. Pravosudov
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Day Length ◽  
Relative Role ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Significant Difference

Environmental conditions may create increased demands for memory, which in turn may affect specific brain regions responsible for memory function. This may occur either via phenotypic plasticity or selection for individuals with enhanced cognitive abilities. For food-caching animals, in particular, spatial memory appears to be important because it may have a direct effect on fitness via their ability to accurately retrieve food caches. Our previous studies have shown that caching animals living in more harsh environments (characterized by low temperatures, high snow cover and short day lengths) possess more neurons within a larger hippocampus (Hp), a part of the brain involved in spatial memory. However, the relative role of each of these environmental features in the relationship is unknown. Here, we dissociate the effects of one theoretically important factor (day length) within the environmental severity/Hp relationship by examining food-caching birds (black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus ) selected at locations along the same latitude, but with very different climatic regimes. There was a significant difference in Hp attributes among populations along the same latitude with very different climatic features. Birds from the climatically mild location had significantly smaller Hp volumes and fewer Hp neurons than birds from the more harsh populations, even though all populations experienced similar day lengths. These results suggest that variables such as temperature and snow cover seem to be important even without the compounding effect of reduced day length at higher latitudes and suggest that low temperature and snow cover alone may be sufficient to generate high demands for memory and the hippocampus. Our data further confirmed that the association between harsh environment and the hippocampus in food-caching animals is robust across a large geographical area and across years.

scholarly journals Hippocampal volumes and neuron numbers increase along a gradient of environmental harshness: a large-scale comparison

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1656) ◽  
pp. 401-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy C Roth ◽  
Vladimir V Pravosudov
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Day Length ◽  
Harsh Environments ◽  
Environmental Pressures ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Climatic Severity

Environmental conditions may provide specific demands for memory, which in turn may affect specific brain regions responsible for memory function. For food-caching animals, in particular, spatial memory appears to be important because it may have a direct effect on fitness via the accuracy of cache retrieval. Animals living in more harsh environments should rely more on cached food, and thus theoretically should have better memory to support cache retrieval, which may be crucial for survival. Consequently, animals in harsh environments may benefit from more neurons within a larger hippocampus (Hp), a part of the brain involved in spatial memory. Here, we present the first large-scale test of the hypothesis that Hp structure is related to the severity of the environment within a single food-caching species (the black-capped chickadee, Poecile atricapillus ) with a large range encompassing a great diversity of climatic conditions. Hp size in birds collected at five locations along a gradient of environmental harshness from Alaska to Kansas ranked perfectly with climatic severity. Birds from more harsh northern climates (defined by lower ambient temperature, shorter day length and more snow cover) had significantly larger Hp volumes and more Hp neurons (both relative to telencephalon volume) than those from more mild southern latitudes. Environmental pressures therefore seem capable of influencing specific brain regions independently, which may result in enhanced memory, and hence survival, in harsh climates.

scholarly journals Neural representations of space in the hippocampus of a food-caching bird

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 373 (6552) ◽  
pp. 343-348
Author(s):  
H. L. Payne ◽  
G. F. Lynch ◽  
D. Aronov
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Strong Dependence ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Food Caching ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Hippocampal Activity ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
Representations Of Space

Spatial memory in vertebrates requires brain regions homologous to the mammalian hippocampus. Between vertebrate clades, however, these regions are anatomically distinct and appear to produce different spatial patterns of neural activity. We asked whether hippocampal activity is fundamentally different even between distant vertebrates that share a strong dependence on spatial memory. We studied tufted titmice, food-caching birds capable of remembering many concealed food locations. We found mammalian-like neural activity in the titmouse hippocampus, including sharp-wave ripples and anatomically organized place cells. In a non–food-caching bird species, spatial firing was less informative and was exhibited by fewer neurons. These findings suggest that hippocampal circuit mechanisms are similar between birds and mammals, but that the resulting patterns of activity may vary quantitatively with species-specific ethological needs.

Introduction to the cognitive abilities account for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of autobiographical memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve M. J. Janssen
Keyword(s):  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Alternative Account ◽  
Reminiscence Bump ◽  
Significant Events ◽  
Cue Words

People tend to recall more specific personal events from adolescence and early adulthood than from other lifetime periods, a finding known as the reminiscence bump. Several explanations have suggested that events from the reminiscence bump are especially emotional, important, or positive, but studies using cue words have not found support for these claims. An alternative account postulates that cognitive abilities function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, which may cause more memories to be stored in those lifetime periods. Although other studies have previously discussed the cognitive abilities account as a possible explanation for the reminiscence bump, it was only recently shown that cognitive abilities are indeed related to autobiographical memory performance. When this recent finding is combined with previous findings that cognitive abilities as well as autobiographical memory function optimally in adolescence and early adulthood, they suggest that the cognitive abilities account is a promising explanation for the reminiscence bump in the temporal distribution of word-cued memories. However, because the account does not aim to explain the reminiscence bump in the distribution of highly significant events, it should be regarded as complementary to the existing accounts.

Cyclamen Leaf Unfolding Rate in Response to Temperature

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 447d-447
Author(s):  
Meriam Karlsson ◽  
Jeffrey Werner
Keyword(s):  
Day Length ◽  
Leaf Number ◽  
Cyclamen Persicum ◽  
Flower Buds ◽  
Flower Bud ◽  
Leaf Unfolding ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Number Of Leaves ◽  
Growth Chambers ◽  
Response To Temperature

Nine-week-old plants of Cyclamen persicum `Miracle Salmon' were transplanted into 10-cm pots and placed in growth chambers at 8, 12, 16, 20, or 24 °C. The irradiance was 10 mol/day per m2 during a 16-h day length. After 8 weeks, the temperature was changed to 16 °C for all plants. Expanded leaves (1 cm or larger) were counted at weekly intervals for each plant. The rate of leaf unfolding increased with temperature to 20 °C. The fastest rate at 20 °C was 0.34 ± 0.05 leaf/day. Flower buds were visible 55 ± 7 days from start of temperature treatments (118 days from seeding) for the plants grown at 12, 16, or 20 °C. Flower buds appeared 60 ± 6.9 days from initiation of treatments for plants grown at 24 °C and 93 ± 8.9 days for cyclamens grown at 8 °C. Although there was no significant difference in rate of flower bud appearance for cyclamens grown at 12, 16, or 20 °C, the number of leaves, flowers, and flower buds varied significantly among all temperature treatments. Leaf number at flowering increased from 38 ± 4.7 for plants at 12 °C to 77 ± 8.3 at 24 °C. Flowers and flower buds increased from 18 ± 2.9 to 52 ± 11.0 as temperature increased from 12 to 24 °C. Plants grown at 8 °C had on average 6 ± 2 visible flower buds, but no open flowers at termination of the study (128 days from start of treatments).

scholarly journals Pharmacological Blockade of PPARα Exacerbates Inflammatory Pain-Related Impairment of Spatial Memory in Rats

Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Jessica C. Gaspar ◽  
Catherine Healy ◽  
Mehnaz I. Ferdousi ◽  
Michelle Roche ◽  
David P. Finn
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Inflammatory Pain ◽  
Dorsal Hippocampus ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Intraperitoneal Administration ◽  
Compensatory Mechanism ◽  
Chronic Inflammatory Pain ◽  
Pharmacological Blockade ◽  
Innate Anxiety

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are ligand-dependent transcription factors that exist in three isoforms: PPARα, PPARβ/δ and PPARγ. Studies suggest that the PPAR signalling system may modulate pain, anxiety and cognition. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether endogenous signalling via PPARs differentially modulates innate anxiety responses and mnemonic function in the presence and absence of inflammatory pain. We examined the effects of intraperitoneal administration of GW6471 (PPARα antagonist), GSK0660 (PPARβ/δ antagonist), GW9662 (PPARγ antagonist), and N-palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) on rat behaviour in the elevated plus maze (EPM), open field (OF), light-dark box (LDB), and novel object recognition (NOR) tests in the presence or absence of chronic inflammatory pain. Complete Freund’s Adjuvant (CFA)-injected rats exhibited impaired recognition and spatial mnemonic performance in the NOR test and pharmacological blockade of PPARα further impaired spatial memory in CFA-treated rats. N-oleoylethanolamide (OEA) levels were higher in the dorsal hippocampus in CFA-injected animals compared to their counterparts. The results suggest a modulatory effect of CFA-induced chronic inflammatory pain on cognitive processing, but not on innate anxiety-related responses. Increased OEA-PPARα signalling may act as a compensatory mechanism to preserve spatial memory function following CFA injection.

scholarly journals Emotional Reactions to Music in Dementia Patients and Healthy Controls: Differential Responding Depends on the Mechanism

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 205920432110101
Author(s):  
Gonçalo T. Barradas ◽  
Patrik N. Juslin ◽  
Sergi Bermúdez i Badia
Keyword(s):  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Geriatric Depression Scale ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Dementia Patients ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Brain Stem Reflex

Music is frequently regarded as a unique way to connect with dementia patients. Yet little is known about how persons with dementia respond emotionally to music. Are their responses different from those of healthy listeners? If so, why? The present study makes a first attempt to tackle these issues in a Portuguese context, with a focus on psychological mechanisms. In Experiment 1, featuring 20 young and healthy adults, we found that musical excerpts which have previously been shown to activate specific emotion induction mechanisms (brain stem reflex, contagion, episodic memory, musical expectancy) in Sweden were valid and yielded predicted emotions also in Portugal, as indexed by self-reported feelings, psychophysiology, and post hoc mechanism indices. In Experiment 2, we used the same stimuli to compare the responses of 20 elderly listeners diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with those of 20 healthy listeners. We controlled for cognitive functioning (Mini-Mental State Examination) and depression (Geriatric Depression Scale). Our predictions about how mechanisms would be differentially affected by decline in brain regions associated with AD received support in that AD patients reported significantly lower levels of (a) sadness in the contagion condition, (b) happiness and nostalgia in the episodic memory condition, and (c) anxiety in the musical expectancy condition. By contrast, no significant difference in reported surprise was found in the brain stem reflex condition. Implications for musical interventions aimed at dementia are discussed, highlighting the key role that basic research may play in developing applications.

Neuroprotection and Enhancement of Spatial Memory by Herbal Mixture HT008-1 in Rat Global Brain Ischemia Model

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (02) ◽  
pp. 287-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Tai Kim ◽  
Youn-Ju Yi ◽  
Mi-Yeon Kim ◽  
Youngmin Bu ◽  
Zhen Hua Jin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Brain Ischemia ◽  
Neuronal Damage ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Neuronal Cell ◽  
Memory Deficit ◽  
Global Brain Ischemia ◽  
Herbal Mixture ◽  
Y Maze ◽  
Global Brain

To investigate whether HT008-1, a prescription used in traditional Korean medicine to treat mental and physical weakness, has a neuroprotective effect on a rat model of global brain ischemia and an enhancing effect against memory deficit following ischemia. Global brain ischemia was induced for 10 min by using 4-vessel occlusion (4-VO). HT008-1 was orally administered at doses of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg respectively twice at 0 and 90 min after ischemia. The effect on memory deficit was investigated by using a Y-maze neurobehavioral test 4 days after brain ischemia, and the effect on neuronal damage was measured 7 days after ischemia. The mechanism of action was studied immunohistochemically using an anti-CD11b (OX-42) antibody. The oral administration of HT008-1 at 100 and 300 mg/kg significantly reduced hippocampal neuronal cell death by 49% and 53%, respectively, compared with a vehicle-treated group, and also improved spatial memory function in the Y-maze test. Immunohistochemically, HT008-1 inhibited OX-42 expression in the hippocampus. The effects of HT008-1 were more pronounced than those of its individual herb components. The herbal mixture HT008-1 protects the most vulnerable CA1 pyramidal cells of the hippocampus and enhances spatial memory function against global brain ischemia; an anti-inflammatory effect may be one of the mechanisms of action.

Abstract TP295: Stroke Prevention Surgery > Quality of Life and Cognitive Ability to Drive Are Maintained After Surgical Repair of Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm

Stroke ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan M ODonnell ◽  
Maurizio Manuguerra ◽  
Jemma L Hodge ◽  
Greg Savage ◽  
Michael K Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Intracranial Aneurysm ◽  
Surgical Management ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Short Form ◽  
Unruptured Intracranial Aneurysm ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Ability To Drive

Background: Studies have questioned the effectiveness of surgery for the management of unruptured intracranial aneurysm (uIA). Few studies have examined the ability to drive and quality of life (QOL) after surgery for uIA. Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of surgical management of uIA by measuring patients’ perceived quality of life and their cognitive abilities related to driving. Methods: Between January 2011 and January 2016 patients with a uIA were assessed using the Quality Metric Short Form 36 (SF36) and the off-road driver screening instrument DriveSafeDriveAware. Reassessments were conducted at the 6-week post-operative follow-up for surgical patients and at 12-month follow-up for surgical and conservatively managed patients. Results: 175 patients enrolled in the study, of which 112(66%) had surgical management of their aneurysm. For the surgical cases who completed all assessments (N=74), there was a trend for the DriveSafe pre-operative mean score of 108 (SD 10.7) to be lower than the 6-week and 12-month post-operative mean scores (111 SD 9.7 and 112 SD 10.2 respectively)(p=0.05). There were no significant changes in DriveAware scores at any epoch or between patient groups nor in the MCS in the surgical group.. There was a significant decline in PCS scores at 6 weeks post-operatively which recovered at 12 months (52 SD 8.1, 46 SD 6.8 and 52 SD 7.1 respectively)( p <0.01). There was no significant difference in 12-month mRS scores between the surgical cases who completed with cases who did not complete all assessments. Conclusion: Surgery for uIA did not affect cognitive abilities for driving at 6 weeks or 12 months after surgery. There was a decline in the QOL in the first months after surgery, however QOL returned to pre-surgical status 12 months after surgery. If the risk of seizures is low and there are no post-operative complications, returning to driving can be recommended.

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