Autophagy promotes memory formation

Abstract

Autophagy is traditionally known to be a stress response and a quality control mechanism for protecting cells from injury and disease. In addition to its housekeeping functions, autophagy also has specialized functions including regulation of synaptic activity and neurotransmission. Decreased autophagy is commonly associated with aging; however, the functional importance of autophagy in regulating cognitive function and its decline during aging were previously not known. A recent study showed that the induction of hippocampal autophagy improves cognition by enhancing memory formation and reverses memory decline during aging. Here, we discuss the findings of that study and explore the scope of the physiological process of autophagy in the development of treatments for age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative diseases.

RAS ID

30036

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

8-21-2019

ISSN

1948-7193

Volume

10

Issue

8

PubMed ID

31244056

School

The Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care / School of Medical and Health Sciences

Copyright

subscription content

Publisher

ACS Publications

Comments

Tripathi, T., Kalita, P., Martins, R., & Bharadwaj, P. (2019). Autophagy promotes memory formation. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 10(8), 3337-3339. Available here

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1021/acschemneuro.9b00317