In a groundbreaking study back in 2014 , investigator chance upon that when mice exercise , itcauses new neuron to be bornin a region of the encephalon called thehippocampus , and this crowd former knowledge out of their nous , make them forget things they had learned before practise . This obviously came as quite a surprise to scientists , who began to worry that human being may also feel similar memory loss when exercising . luckily , however , a new study has revealed that this does not occur in rats , propose that it may be a specie - specific oddity that only affects some beast .
The hippocampus plays a key theatrical role inlearning and the formation of memories , and is one of the very few part of the brain where raw neurons are produce after we are born . Previous inquiry has shown that people who are physically set tend to have larger hippocampi than those who do not , suggest that example may cause this outgrowth , sleep together asneurogenesis .
The discovery that mice who exercised developed more newfangled hippocampal neurons than those who did not exercise therefore come as little surprisal to scientists , yet they were astounded to discover that when these neuron form connection with other head cubicle , they tend to overwrite existing connections , run to memory loss .
Exercise has been render to stimulate neurogenesis in the hippocampus . dreamerb / Shutterstock
However , writing in theJournal of Neuroscience , the authors of this former bailiwick explain that rat are actually more sound than mice , and that their brains have more in plebeian with those of humans , which is why they opt to investigate whether or not this same consequence take place in rats .
After condition these rat to memorize their way around a labyrinth , the researcher then placed the animals into two groups , one of which was give even entree to a track wheel while the other was drive to stay sedentary for four weeks . At the end of this period , the study authors measured the act of fresh nerve cell in the rats ’ brains , discovering that those that ran every sidereal day had between 1.5 and 2.1 times more new hippocampal neuron than the sedentary rats . This was directly dependent upon the distance that these rats ran over the course of action of the four weeks , with those that ran the furthest experiencing the high-pitched levels ofneurogenesis .
At this stage , the researchers placed the stinkpot back into the labyrinth that they had previously learn , receive that their ability to remember their mode around was all insensible by their level of exercise or the phone number ofnew hippocampal neuronsdeveloped in the interpose period .
Therefore , the author conclude that exercise “ does not deflower memory recollection ability in a rat model despite substantially increase neurogenesis , ” which is dependable news , as it imply humans may not have to pay for physical fitness with their memory after all .
Though more work is needed in rules of order to determine why hippocampal neurogenesis causes retentivity release in some brute but not others , the team evoke that it may have something to do with certain difference in the social organization of neuron between specie . For instance , rat neurons do not connect in the same way as mouse neurons , and may therefore be able to organise without destabilize existing connections and erasing memory .
Given that human nerve cell have more in common with those of rats than those of mice , the research worker are hopeful that hitting the gym wo n’t squeeze our old noesis out of our brains .
Unlike mouse , humans who practise plausibly do n’t recede any memories . Pavel Ilyukhin / Shutterstock
