MSGID: 1:317/3 6479707d   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Deep-brain stimulation during sleep strengthens memory    
    Researchers also report first direct evidence supporting main theory for   
   how human memory is consolidated during sleep    
      
     Date:   
         June 1, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences   
     Summary:   
         New research provides the first physiological evidence from inside   
         the human brain supporting the dominant scientific theory on how   
         the brain consolidates memory during sleep. Further, deep-brain   
         stimulation during a critical time in the sleep cycle appeared to   
         improve memory consolidation.   
      
      
         Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   While it's known that sleep plays a crucial role in strengthening memory,   
   scientists are still trying to decode how this process plays out in the   
   brain overnight.   
      
   New research led by scientists at UCLA Health and Tel Aviv University   
   provides the first physiological evidence from inside the human brain   
   supporting the dominant scientific theory on how the brain consolidates   
   memory during sleep.   
      
   Further, the researchers found that targeted deep-brain stimulation   
   during a critical time in the sleep cycle appeared to improve memory   
   consolidation.   
      
   The research, published June 1 in Nature Neuroscience, could offer   
   new clues for how deep-brain stimulation during sleep could one day   
   help patients with memory disorders like Alzheimer's disease, said   
   study co-author Itzhak Fried, MD, PhD. This was achieved by a novel   
   "closed-loop" system that delivered electrical pulses in one brain region   
   precisely synchronized to brain activity recorded from another region.   
      
   According to the dominant theory for how the brain converts new   
   information into long-term memories during shuteye, there's an overnight   
   dialogue between the hippocampus -- the brain's memory hub -- and   
   the cerebral cortex, which is associated with higher brain functions   
   like reasoning and planning. This occurs during a phase of deep sleep,   
   when brain waves are especially slow and neurons across brain regions   
   alternate between rapidly firing in sync and silence.   
      
   "This provides the first major evidence down to the level of single   
   neurons that there is indeed this mechanism of interaction between the   
   memory hub and the entire cortex," said Fried, the director of epilepsy   
   surgery at UCLA Health and professor of neurosurgery, psychiatry   
   and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine   
   at UCLA. "It has both scientific value in terms of understanding how   
   memory works in humans and using that knowledge to really boost memory."   
   The researchers had a unique opportunity to test this theory of memory   
   consolidation via electrodes in the brains of 18 epilepsy patients at   
   UCLA Health. The electrodes had been implanted in the patients' brains   
   to help identify the source of their seizures during hospital stays   
   typically lasting around 10 days.   
      
   The study was conducted across two nights and mornings. Just before   
   bedtime, study participants were shown photo pairings of animals and   
   25 celebrities, including easily identifiable stars like Marilyn Monroe   
   and Jack Nicholson.   
      
   They were immediately tested on their ability to recall which celebrity   
   was paired with which animal, and they were tested again in the morning   
   after a night of undisturbed sleep.   
      
   On another night, they were shown 25 new animal and celebrity pairings   
   before bedtime. This time, they received targeted electrical stimulation   
   overnight, and their ability recall the pairings was tested in the   
   morning. To deliver this electrical stimulation, the researchers had   
   created a real-time closed- loop system that Fried likened to a musical   
   conductor: The system "listened" to brain's electrical signals, and   
   when patients fell into the period of deep sleep associated with memory   
   consolidation, it delivered gentle electrical pulses instructing the   
   rapidly firing neurons to "play" in sync.   
      
   Each individual tested performed better on memory tests following a   
   night of sleep with the electrical stimulation compared to a night of   
   undisturbed sleep.   
      
   Key electrophysiological markers also indicated that information was   
   flowing between the hippocampus and throughout the cortex, providing   
   physical evidence supporting of memory consolidation.   
      
   "We found we basically enhanced this highway by which information flows   
   to more permanent storage places in the brain," Fried said.   
      
   Fried in 2012 authored a New England Journal of Medicine study that for   
   the first time showed that electrical stimulation can strengthen memory,   
   and his work has continued to explore how deep brain stimulation could   
   improve memory, now moving into the critical stage of sleep. He recently   
   received a $7 million NIH grant to study whether artificial intelligence   
   can help pinpoint and strengthen specific memories in the brain.   
      
   "In our new study, we showed we can enhance memory in general,"   
   Fried said.   
      
   "Our next challenge is whether we have the ability to modulate specific   
   memories."  Yuval Nir of Tel Aviv University co-supervised the study   
   with Fried. Other authors include lead author Maya Geva-Sagiv, as well as   
   Emily Mankin, Dawn Eliashiv, Natalie Cherry, Guldamla Kalender and Natalia   
   Tchemodanov from UCLA, and Shdema Epstein from Tel-Aviv University.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Mind_&_Brain   
                   # Memory # Intelligence # Neuroscience # Sleep_Disorders   
                   # Brain-Computer_Interfaces # Dementia # Brain_Injury #   
                   Disorders_and_Syndromes   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Sleep o Memory-prediction_framework o   
             Circadian_rhythm_sleep_disorder o Rapid_eye_movement o Memory   
             o Limbic_system o Bruxism o Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by   
   University_of_California_-_Los_Angeles_Health_Sciences.   
      
   Note: Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Maya Geva-Sagiv, Emily A. Mankin, Dawn Eliashiv, Shdema Epstein,   
      Natalie   
         Cherry, Guldamla Kalender, Natalia Tchemodanov, Yuval Nir,   
         Itzhak Fried.   
      
         Augmenting hippocampal-prefrontal neuronal synchrony during sleep   
         enhances memory consolidation in humans. Nature Neuroscience,   
         2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01324-5   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230601155923.htm   
      
   --- up 1 year, 13 weeks, 3 days, 10 hours, 50 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 218/700 226/30 227/114   
   SEEN-BY: 229/110 112 113 307 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 291/111 292/854   
   SEEN-BY: 298/25 305/3 317/3 320/219 396/45   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426