biology

The Ticking of Internal Clocks:

+
medicine

Research Links Circadian Rhythms to Memory

M
any organisms have
by Michelle Meyer and Nishma Sachedina
circadian rhythms,
internal clocks that at 24-hour intervals. In one study, rats were forced to learn
Photo Credit: Dr. Norman Ruby

are closely linked
to the light-dark cycle of a day.
Generally, if an organism’s
internal clock is unsynchronized,
it continues to live a normal
life with no serious physical
consequences. If these clocks
Dr. Norman Ruby of the Stanford seem so inconsequential, why
Biological Sciences Department has Mother Nature preserved
plans to research the relation-
ship between internal clocks and them throughout evolutionary
learning and memory. history? Recent research by Dr.
Norman Ruby, a senior research
scientist in Stanford’s Department of Biology, suggests that
circadian rhythms are closely linked to the ability to learn
new tasks.
Disrupting Learning
Ruby studied the relationship between circadian rhythms
and learning and memory by conducting experiments in the
lab of Dr. H. Craig Heller, Professor of Biological Sciences
at Stanford. During the “novel object task” experiment,
researchers placed a Siberian hamster inside a box with
two identical objects—in this case, shot glasses – and then
recorded the time the hamster spent investigating each
object. As expected, in this first case with two novel objects,
the hamster spent equal time examining both. One hour
later, researchers placed the hamsters back in the box with
two objects: one of the old objects and one new, different
object. The hamster spent twice as much time with this
“novel object,” suggesting that the hamster’s hippocampus
stored the memory of the previous experience with the two
identical shot glasses.
When this experiment was repeated using arrhythmic
hamsters whose internal clocks were altered by light-cycle
manipulation, the animals displayed no memory of the old
object after an hour and spent an equal amount of time with
the old and new objects. However, when the second trial
followed the first trial after 20 minutes rather than an hour,
these arrhythmic hamsters showed some signs of memory
and spent more time examining the novel object than the
old object. These findings suggest that the memory of the
two initial shot glasses was
created but not retained in
the hamsters with irregular
biological clocks.
Daily Memory Cycles
Another intriguing study
shows that learning a task is
Photo Credit: ©sxc.hu/Rodrigo Galindo affected by temporal factors
Learning and memory are affected and that memory recall is best
by circadian rhythm loss.
tasks at different times during the day, and their memories
were tested at varying intervals after the tasks. Researchers
found that the rats’ recall ability was best 24 hours after
the initial task, indicating a correlation between circadian
rhythm and memory.
Interestingly, according to Ruby, “Humans have optimal
cognitive performance at ten in the morning--give or take
a little,” further supporting the hypothesis that circadian
rhythms influence the brain’s ability to think and remember.
As Ruby notes, these recent studies indicate that “circadian
rhythms are clearly involved in learning and memory, though
the how and why behind this link are currently unclear.”
Future Research
Ruby and other researchers in the Heller lab plan to study
these mechanisms by conducting more behavioral research
coupled with biochemical analyses. They hope to address
why a loss in circadian rhythm leads to a loss in memory. In
the near future, arrhythmic hamsters will be participating
in a “hole board” memory test to determine if they can
remember which nooks contained food and which were
empty. Future studies may reveal the reasons for circadian
rhythms and lead to applications for preventing and treating
memory loss. S
MICHELLE MEYER is a sophomore majoring in Human Biology. She loves
running at all hours of the day and night, playing any kind of sport, and
drinking diet soda.
NISHMA SACHEDINA is a sophomore tentatively majoring in Biology. She
enjoys playing tennis, being a hardcore sports fan, and going to the gym
when her iPod is functioning.
To Learn More:
For more information, visit http://www.pubmed.org and search
for articles by Drs. Norman Ruby and Craig Heller .
Photo Credit: ©sxc.hu/Katie Tardiff
Arrhythmic hamsters
show memory loss
in the “novel object
task,” which involved
recognizing recently
viewed or unseen
shot glasses.

layout design: Anita Verma volume v 23