A “mileage clock” inside Brain Located for the first time Scientist Who says Can help “attractive” conclusions to diagnose Alzheimer’s,
Researchers allowed Mice To Run around a small arena And then recorded RodBrain activity from part known to be important for memory and navigation.
According to the report, he is known as the “grid cell”, known as “grid cell”, “removed” in a pattern, reflecting a mileage clock, which was tickled according to animals’ trips.
Human volunteers then participated in a scale-up version of the test, suggesting that there is also a clock in the human brain.
Scientists say the conclusions published in the journal Current biology, Apply some fundamental functioning of humans’ internal navigation system, as well as potentially help to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor James Ang from St. Andrews University, Professor James Ang, Told BBC: “The specific brain cells we are recording is one of the areas that are affected in Alzheimer’s.”
The study has become the first to display that regular ticking of “grid cells” is linked to the ability of humans to estimate the distance directly traveling.
Professor Ang said: “Imagine walking between your kitchen and living room. [These cells] There are parts of the brain that provides that internal map – the ability to keep yourself in the environment in your mind. ,
The description of the research is how the “cognitive map” works, including what happens when it is interrupted. It was found that changes in environment may cause errors in their distance estimates to both mice and humans, such as darkness or fog while traveling hiking.
In his experiments, scientists trained mice to run a specific distance in the rectangular field, rewarding rodents with a treatment when they traveled to the right distance and back.
Mileage-counting cells were found regularly firing in the brain of animals when the animals were running at the right distance.
Professor Ang explained to the broadcaster: “The more regular firing patterns were, the better animals were better to guess that distance to get that treatment.”
This was when the size of the rat area was replaced that the researchers noted that the firing pattern became irregular, making animals difficult to remove the distance before returning to the beginning to get their treatment.
Professor Ang described the findings as “attractive”, compared when the visual site suddenly disappears in the fog. He told the corporation: “They show such old understanding. There is something about the fact that the signal is not regular. It means they stop very soon.”
In another experiment, human volunteers completed the same test but in 12 meters in the orna. Similar to mice, participants began to make errors in judging distances when researchers moved the walls of the arena.
Given the possible applications of future and findings, diagnosing conditions like Alzheimer’s, Professor Ang said: “People have already made people. [diagnostic] For example, to test navigation that you can play on your phone. We are really interested in trying something similar, but especially given the distance estimate. ,