X-Message-Number: 412 From att!U.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU!Timothy_Freeman Wed Aug 28 17:19:23 0400 1991 To: Reply-to: Tim Freeman <> Subject: Cryonics: Memory in a test tube Date: Wed, 28 Aug 91 17:19:23 -0400 From: >From the front page of the Wed Aug 28 1991 USA TODAY: Memory is re-created in test tube By Tim Friend (quoted without permission, typos probably introduced by me) NEW YORK -- Scientists have re-created in a test tube the chemical process of learning and remembering. The research, reported here at the Fourth Chemical Congress of North America, is preliminary. But it has important implications for: Stroke victims, whose memories and learning abilities often are damaged. Memory in a test tube could speed development of drugs that help rewire the brain for relearning lost abilities. Alzheimer's patients, whose brain cells and memories degenerate. The research will help scientists learn how to change the function of cells and give patients more memory capacity.. In his study, Daniel Koshland of the University of California-Berkeley used naturally occurring chemicals to stimulate two types of rat brain cells. When stimulated, some cells showed a short-term memory response, and others produced a long-term response. When the short-term memory cells were exposed to a brain chemical called serotonin, they changed into long-term memory cells -- showing that different brain chemicals can make cells behave in different ways. "We're not making new brain cells, but we may be able to change the chemistry within the cell," Koshland says. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=412