I Can See Memory

The process of how memory is formed is visually caught in real time for a couple of seconds. The mouse used as an in vivo experiment for this accomplishment had its mRNA or messenger ribonucleic acid tagged with green fluorescent chemicals. Messenger RNA encodes for the beta protein that shapes and structures the brain cell for memory storage. The part of the brain known as the hippocampus was stimulated to watch the mRNA go into process. The hippocampus role is separating events and experience of short term memory to long term memory. Thus, driving a car for the first time creates paths by the mRNA by encoding the nucleus of the neurons to create molecules that shape the path of the dendrites synaptic communication between other neurons.

Figure 1. The process of how the mouse mRNA was tagged with fluorescent green (A). The molecules forming for roles of creating memory of the neuron out to the dendrites (B, C).

Park et al. (2014). Visualization of dynamics of single endogenous mRNA labeled in live mouse. Science. 343 (6169): 422-424. doi: 10.1126/science.1239200