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entorhinal cortex

part of the mediotemporal lobe; the main input to and output from the hippocampus. A vital part of the long-term memory store, and one of the first regions damaged in the early stages of Alzheimer's

Entorhinal Cortex

Read more about the entorhinal cortex.

Older news items (pre-2010) brought over from the old website

Growth factor protects key brain cells in Alzheimer's models

In a series of cell culture and animal studies, involving genetically engineered mice, rats, and rhesus monkeys, injections of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) resulted in significant improvement in brain functioning and on learning and memory tests. The growth factor, important for neurogenesis, is normally produced in the entorhinal cortex, an area damaged early in Alzheimer’s disease.

Nagahara, A.H. et al. 2009. Neuroprotective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rodent and primate models of Alzheimer's disease. Nature Medicine, 15, 331–337.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/uoc--gfp020309.php

Where Alzheimer's starts and how it spreads

Submitted by Fiona McPherson on

A new study involving 96 older adults initially free of dementia at the time of enrollment, of whom 12 subsequently developed mild Alzheimer’s, has clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer's: where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads.

Cut ‘visual clutter’ to help MCI & Alzheimer’s

Memory problems in those with mild cognitive impairment may begin with problems in visual discrimination and vulnerability to interference — a hopeful discovery in that interventions to improve discriminability and reduce interference may have a flow-on effect to cognition.

Running faster changes brain rhythms associated with learning

I’ve always felt that better thinking was associated with my brain working ‘in a higher gear’ — literally working at a faster rhythm. So I was particularly intrigued by the findings of a recent mouse study that found that brainwaves associated with learning became stronger as the mice ran faster.

Why it gets harder to remember as we get older

As we get older, when we suffer memory problems, we often laughingly talk about our brain being ‘full up’, with no room for more information. A new study suggests that in some sense (but not the direct one!) that’s true.

To make new memories, we need to recognize that they are new memories. That means we need to be able to distinguish between events, or objects, or people. We need to distinguish between them and representations already in our database.

More evidence for the cognitive benefit of treating sleep apnea

Comparison of 17 people with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with 15 age-matched controls has revealed that those with OSA had reduced gray matter in several brain regions, most particularly in the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left posterior parietal cortex, as well as the entorhinal cortex and the right superior frontal gyrus. These areas were associated with deficits in abstract reasoning and executive function. Deficits in the left posterior parietal cortex were also associated with daytime sleepiness.

Connection between navigation, object location, & autobiographical memory

Rodent studies have demonstrated the existence of specialized neurons involved in spatial memory. These ‘grid cells’ represent where an animal is located within its environment, firing in patterns that show up as geometrically regular, triangular grids when plotted on a map of a navigated surface. Now for the first time, evidence for these cells has been found in humans. Moreover, those with the clearest signs of grid cells performed best in a virtual reality spatial memory task, suggesting that the grid cells help us to remember the locations of objects.

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