IGF2 Hormone Could Lead to Memory Drug
The discovery is very important, as it could provide lots of benefits in case it will be ever used on people. The hormone which they discovered was IGF2, which has a huge role when it comes to the development of the brain. Currently, the researchers do not have too much information about the insulin-like growth factor 2 hormone, but they hope that they will be able to find out more in the future. If they will be able to do that, then they might use the information in order to develop a drug which could help the people with memory problems. They believe that the patients with Alzheimer’s and other similar diseases could benefit from this drug the most. Cristina Alberini, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who was the main researcher of the study, said that in order to be able to develop this drug, they will need to find out more information about the way in which memory is formed. They want to find out information about the exact way in which memory takes place, including the mechanisms involved, the order of these mechanisms, and so on. Once they have acquired this information, they will need to analyze the processes which take place in the minds of the people affected by Alzheimer’s, more precisely about the way in which the hormone works in the case of those people.
The researchers modified the way in which the hippocampus of the mice works. Because of the modification, those mice did not create the memory in the proper manner, as a regular mouse would. In case you did not know, the hippocampus is the region of the brain which is responsible for creating various memories related to people, places, things, and so on. In two weeks, the hippocampus will turn the short-turn memories into long term memories. This process occurs both in the case of the humans, as well as in the case of the rodents. Because of that, the discoveries made on the mice, could be applied to the humans as well. It was discovered that when they injected the hormones into the mice, they were able to remember better after two weeks. The researchers trained the mice to avoid a darkened area of the box, by administrating them shocks. After they taught the mice to remember to avoid that area of the box, they analyzed the processes which take place in the brain, and the levels of IGF2 which their brains produce. They also looked for the moments when their brains produced this hormone. They discovered that the hormone levels were at their highest, two days after the training. Afterwards they started to decline, and in the case of the mice that no longer had the IGF2 hormones, the learning process was stopped. The mice that no longer had the IGF2 hormones would forget about that particular area of the brain. When the researchers administered the hormone into the mice, they altered the memory process: the mice could remember the information for a longer period of time, and they would forget it less frequently.
Prior to this point, the researchers managed to identify various brain hormones, but they were different than this one, as they blocked the memory instead of enhancing it. Alcino Silva, a memory researcher at UCLA, said that it is much easier to block the memory than it is to enhance it. In all of the cases, doing damage is easier than repairing, and the discoveries which these researchers made are amazing, Silva said. He is confident that they will be able to make progresses with their discoveries, and that they will be able to identify the way in which the memory is built into the brain. Once they do that, creating a drug for memory loss will be much easier than it is now. The team of researchers want to analyze the brains of the people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. They want to see if the IGF2 hormone levels are different than in the case of the people who do not suffer from these diseases. They hope that these levels are different in the case of the people who suffer from these diseases, because in that case they will be able to make the proper adjustments in order to help their brains receive the normal levels of the hormone. Silva stated that forgetting is just as important as being able to memorize things. This is the way in which the brain works, and in order to work in a regular manner, a person needs to forget and to remember things as well. He said that the brain is a very complex mechanism, which has the capacity of adjusting itself to the changes. However, the changes are not good for the brain, and if the correct balance is not maintained, then we could suffer.
The brain has puzzled the neuroscientists for a very long time now. The brain is probably the most complex organ in the human body, as it is responsible for the majority of the processes which take place in it. Despite of this complexity, the brain does not have the capability of understanding itself. We have billions of neurons in the brain, and thousands of processes take place in the mind. The brain is like a freeway, on which millions of cars pass each day, under very strict rules, or in some cases in an uncontrollable manner. The neuroscientists have been puzzled for a very long time by the processes which take place inside of the mind, such as the memory, the thoughts, the emotions, and the conscience. Not even the smartest minds from history were able to decipher the human brain, and many believe that if that will ever happen, it would probably represent the biggest achievement of the humanity so far. Norman Weinberger, a neuroscientist at the University of California, believes that if the humans will be able to understand the exact manner in which the brain works, and the ways in which all the processes which take place in it are conducted, then they will be able to manipulate it. They will know the limits of the human brains, and its capacities regarding all the processes which take place: emotions, thoughts, and so on.
It has been stated that the reason why the brain is so difficult to decipher is because of its complexity. Since it is so complex, the accurate processes which take place in it can not be understood, and the simple ones can not be recreated. Another reason why the scientists are not able to understand the brain in the proper manner, is because they see it from a subjective point of view. They try to analyze the processes which take place in the brain, based on the processes which take place in their own brain. Many believe that they understand the way in which the brain works, but they can not use their subjectivity in order to generalize because different brains work in different manners. Bilogist Anders Garm of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, said that the debate regarding if the human brain can understand itself has been present for a very long time, and that it has not been solved yet. The scientists have managed to make certain discoveries in the domain, such as determining which areas become active in certain situations, but the discoveries they have made, proved to be very rudimentary. It is believed that much time will pass until they will be able to find out more about the more complex processes which take place in the brain. Until then, we will have to accept the fact that we do not have too much control over the situation.11