The RUB news portal reports:

The locus coeruleus and the ventral tegmental area compete for influence on the formation of memory content. This has been demonstrated by a team of neuroscientists using light-controlled nerve cells.

Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum have investigated how two areas of the brain influence the nature of memory content. The team from the Department of Neurophysiology showed in rats how the locus coeruleus and the ventral tegmental area sustainably alter brain activity in the hippocampus, a region crucial for memory. The influences of the two areas compete with each other and determine, for example, how emotionally charged or relevant experiences are stored. Dr. Hardy Hagena and Prof. Dr. Denise Manahan-Vaughan used optogenetics for the study. They genetically modified rats so that certain nerve cells could be activated or deactivated with light. They describe the results in the journal PNAS, short for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, dated December 30, 2024.

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