2024-02-17 14:12:00
The hormone known as oxytocin or the “love hormone,” which is widely recognized for its effects on emotional connections and psychological well-being, also plays an important role in cognitive processes. Scientists from the University of Tokyo in Japan analyzed its effect on memory, which may open up new prospects in the treatment of dementia.
Using drugs, the researchers stimulated the activity of oxytocin-producing neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus in laboratory mice. This significantly improved their long-term memory, as demonstrated in object recognition tests.
Oxytocin, produced in the hypothalamus, affects various areas of the brain by binding to specific receptors and initiating a chain of cellular signals that regulate the release of neurotransmitters and the activity of neurons.
Scientists have suggested that oxytocin could be a potential new treatment for dementia. The experiment involved 51 laboratory mice, which were divided into two groups: those with activated oxytocin neurons and those with normal neural activity. Neuronal activation was found to have no effect on short-term memory but improve long-term memory in rodents. A positive result is associated with increased activity in the supramammillary nucleus (SuM) and dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus.
Additional research has shown that stimulating axons that release oxytocin improves mice’s ability to more accurately recognize novel objects. Scientists have concluded that the “love hormone” can slow the progression of dementia.
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