BANGALORE, India, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Scientists in India say an injection of nerve cells into damaged areas of the brains of rats restores the animals' spatial memory and their ability to learn.
Scientists at India's National Institute for Mental Health and Neuro Sciences and the National Center for Biological Sciences injected a chemical into 48 adult rats that destroyed neurons in the hippocampus, a structure in the brain characterized by the scientists as the seat of learning and memory.
The researchers said they then transplanted hippocampal cells from newborn mice into the hippocampi of half the brain-damaged rats. After two months, the scientists measured the learning and memory of the rats by their performance in two common maze tests. Results showed rats given the transplanted cells fully recovered their capacity to learn and remember. In contrast, the brain-damaged rats not given the transplanted cells failed to recover, and had many problems learning how to navigate the maze.
The scientists said the transplanted cells led to the secretion of growth factors that promoted development of neurons and other cells that give rise to neurons.
The findings appear in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.
