Some memories just won't die — and some can even be transferred to a
whole new brain. Researchers at Tufts University have determined that a
small, yellow worm known as a planarian, which has long been studied for
its regenerative properties, is able to grow back a lot more than just
its body parts: after the worm's small, snake-like head and neck are
removed, its body will even regrow a brain that's capable of quickly
relearning its lost skills.
The researchers tested the memory of planarians by measuring how long it
took for them to reach food in a controlled setting. The small worms
dislike open spaces and bright lights — but they had been trained to
ignore it so that they could find their meals. Even after decapitation,
worms that had gone through training were able to overcome their fears
and start eating much faster than worms that hadn't been trained.
However, the memories didn't come back immediately. Each worm still had
to be reminded of its earlier knowledge, though it only took a single
lesson for it to all come back.
Why this happens is still
unclear. Planarians' brains control their behavior, but the researchers
suggest that some of their memories might be stored elsewhere in their
body. Alternatively, they suggest that the worms' original brain may
have modified their nervous systems, and their nervous systems may have
then altered how the new brains formed during regrowth.
The researchers' findings appears in The Journal of Experimental Biology.
They say that more work needs to be done to nail down the specifics of
how planarians recover their memory, but the hope is that the worms can
be used as a way to study how memory and learning work. That may sound
complicated for a seemingly basic creature, but existing studies are
already using them to research drug addiction and withdrawal.
Oryginal article
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