3d mouse brain img
In an effort to study the process of memory formation scientists of Japan’s Nara Institute of Science and Technology in western Japan and Kinki University have implanted a small camera into the hippocampus of a mouse’s brain. The observations, the researchers hope will help in treating Parkinson’s and other diseases that lead to memory loss. The mouse has been injected with a chemical that lights up a particular portion of the brain when the brain becomes active, enabling the camera to capture the light and send visuals to a screen. Observations are yet to be carried out would help in recording primary memory activities not necessarily associated with complex human brain activities. Implanting such a camera in human brain to study human brain activity is not possible in the near future. We can only hope that the experimental camera in the mouse brain can help to deduce at least some aspect of memory formation and associated reason for its degeneration leading to dementia.

Image: Timeinc
Source: Reuters