14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists led by Baylor University expert Joaquin Lugo, PhD, say that they have recently made significant progress in understanding how neurological disorders such as epilepsy affect the brain.
Their work was carried out on unsuspecting lab mice that were bred so that they lacked potassium channels on their neurons. These animals could not use spatial cues for navigating an environment, and showed poor responses when subjected to fear conditioning, PsychCentral reports.
Lugo adds that these neurons were located in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that is critical to memory and learning in both mice and humans. He says that this study could lead to the development of new therapies against neurological conditions affecting this region of the brain.
“By targeting chemical pathways that alter those potassium channels, we may eventually be able to apply the findings to humans and reverse some of the cognitive deficits in people with epilepsy and other neurological disorders,” Lugo says. The study appears online in the journal Learning & Memory.