A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that over-expressing a gene may result in neurogenesis in the hippocampus, leading to better memory retention and faster learning. The gene is a nuclear receptor known as TLX. When it was over-expressed in genetically engineered mice, it resulted in physically larger brains which furnished the individual with the aforementioned cognitive abilities, making it the first study to link the TLX gene with learning and memory.
Researchers believe that further study of this gene may show promise in treating patients with traumatic brain injury or devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The discovery comes at a surprising and exciting time, during which scientists have recently found that the hippocampus is the primary recent of the brain in which neurogenesis may occur later in life, contrary to previous beliefs that the brain stopped producing neurons at a much earlier stage in human development. The research provides potentially promising new therapy for a day and age in which humans continue to live longer and longer, providing the hope that these longer lives may benefit from higher-quality, prolonged brain health, as well. The research is very much preliminary, however, and further studies will need to be conducted in order to determine whether or not or to what extent TLX is related to learning and memory.
