Non-brain cells can form memories, too

Amazing stuff! Imagine your entire body full of memories?

"Non-brain cells exposed to chemical pulses similar to the ones that brain cells are exposed to when presented with new information caused the non-brain cells to switch on a gene critical for memory formation. ...

The researchers wanted to see whether non-brain cells reacted similarly, so they developed two separate lines of generic human cells, one from nerve tissue and one from kidney tissue, to test it. They replicated the massed-spaced effect, exposing the non-brain cells to different pulses of chemical signals to mimic the way neurons are exposed to chemical neurotransmitters when new information is learned.

The researchers found that the non-brain cells switched on a memory gene, the same one neurons do when they form memories. The cells could also tell when the chemical pulses were repeated rather than simply prolonged, in the same way neurons can tell the difference between learning with breaks versus cramming. When the pulses were spaced out, the memory gene was activated more strongly and for a longer time than when the pulses were delivered all at once. ..."

From the abstract:

"The massed-spaced effect is a hallmark feature of memory formation. We now demonstrate this effect in two separate non-neural, immortalized cell lines stably expressing a short-lived luciferase reporter controlled by a CREB-dependent promoter. We emulate training using repeated pulses of forskolin and/or phorbol ester, and, as a proxy for memory, measure luciferase expression at various points after training. Four spaced pulses of either agonist elicit stronger and more sustained luciferase expression than a single “massed” pulse. Spaced pulses also result in stronger and more sustained activation of molecular factors critical for memory formation, ERK and CREB, and inhibition of ERK or CREB blocks the massed-spaced effect. Our findings show that canonical features of memory do not necessarily depend on neural circuitry, but can be embedded in the dynamics of signaling cascades conserved across different cell types."

Non-brain cells can form memories, too

Memories Are Not Only in the Brain (original news release) Study shows kidney and nerve tissue cells learn and make memories in ways similar to neurons

The massed-spaced learning effect in non-neural human cells (open access)

Fig. 1: Levels of neural computation.

Fig. 3: Massed-spaced effect in CRE-luc cells.