Author Interviews, Memory, Scripps / 19.09.2016
Calcium Channels in Mitochondria Appears Critical To Capacity For Memory
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Ron L. Davis, PhD Professor and Chair
Department of Neuroscience
Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: While calcium’s importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons—in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory—has been less well defined. Our new study, published in the journal Cell Reports, offers new insights how calcium in mitochondria—the powerhouse of all cells—can impact the development of the brain and adult cognition.
Specifically, we show in fruit flies, a widely used model system, that blocking a channel that brings calcium to the mitochondria called “mitochondrial calcium uniporter” causes memory impairment but does not alter learning capacity. That surprised us – we thought they wouldn’t be able to learn at all. This is important because defects in the same calcium channel function have been shown to be associated with intellectual disability in humans.
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