Synapse duplication: the secret of good memory

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 25, 1999 - Researchers of the Pharmacology Department of the University of Geneva have identified a hitherto unknown mechanism of the memory. They found that nerve cells create new synaptic contacts to be able to better transmit the messages that have to be memorised. The researchers discovery will appear in the November 25 1999 edition of the prestigious journal Nature. When information has been memorised, the synapse, which is the interface between neurones, changes the way it functions, according to researchers. In effect, the activity of the synapse intensifies and the signals it transmits between cells become more intense and more frequent.

Professor Dominique Muller s team, of the Pharmacology Department, then went on to study the mechanism that allows synapses to perform better. Using an electronic microscope, the researchers analysed cells raised in a protected environment and stimulated by minuscule electric currents they were able to observe a synapse duplication. Thus, each time neurones transmit a message to be memorised, they create new synaptic contacts. This discovery opens the door to new directions in research, notably in medicine. Understanding this mechanism could have important implications not only in the field of memory formation but also in the field of cerebral development, as well as in understanding the problems in repairing cerebral circuits after damage has occurred.

LTP induces synptogenesis by duplication of dendritic spines contacting a single terminal by N. Toni, P.-A. Buchs, I. Nilonenko, C.R. Bron and D. Muller, University of Geneva, Nature, November 25 1999.