Long-Term Memory via glial cells and brain waves during sleep /// nonneuronal cells,

NEUROSCIENCE

Deeper Insights Emerge into How Memories Form

Forming lasting memories appears to depend on an interaction between glial cells and brain waves that are produced during sleep

Source: Scientific American

SkyOverSky note to self:  

• great article to read in full.
• (Area of further consideration and understanding... 
• below excerpt is on ~waves~ from individual cellular level dispersed grid pulsing is what I saw when reading... that's not a literal... but it's cool stuff --- see the pic alone - neat ... ha !   

~waves in conjunction supportive synch of sorts with other aparati :  

The communication between 
the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex 
provides the essential context that sparks the varying reactions. 

Research by György Buzsáki at New York University discovered that 

brief, high-frequency oscillations in the hippocampus

• brain waves called sharp wave/ripple complexes
• convey information by coupling in synchrony with cortical neurons firing rhythmically in what are called spindle oscillations. 
• Promoting this rhythmic coupling can improve memory consolidation.

These unusual waves of rhythmic neural activity are especially active during non-REM (dreamless) sleep, and learning a new task increases this activity. 

• It is believed that this transfer of information between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex during sleep 

links the memory of place with its context. 

• In {authors} research, {they} found that:
• myelin is important for transmission of brain waves, 
• raising the possibility that the need for new myelin in memory consolidation could promote this shuttling of information between hippocampus and prefrontal cortex by these unusual neural oscillations.

Brain waves oscillate at many different frequencies. 

Two regions of the brain oscillating together in synchrony may promote the coupling of distant populations of neurons into functional assemblies. 

• Much like the synchronization of the string section and French horns in an orchestra, synchronous brain rhythms could potentially couple neurons in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus together for the mouse to learn to fear a particular location. 

Myelin could play a key role in regulating the speed of transmission of brain waves. If waves of neural activity are not transmitted at the proper rate, destructive interference of one wave with another will disrupt the transmission of rhythmic information in the brain—just as musicians playing out of time will mangle a symphonic work.

Interestingly, changes in myelin have been found during sleep and sleep deprivation. 

• Steadman and colleagues tested whether the formation of myelin during sleep may promote learning by increasing the coupling of brain wave activity by recording neural oscillations in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of mice. 
• They found that when the formation of new myelin was impaired by deleting the MRF gene, the synchrony of brain wave coupling was indeed reduced and the animals performed poorly in invoking the memory of fear learned in the environment where they had been shocked. .

Together these studies indicate that 

• formation of new myelin is necessary for learning 
• because it consolidates memories by facilitating the coordinated brain wave activity between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. 
• New myelin also appears to be needed for other types of learning
• —in improving motor coordination, for example. “When we think about how memories are consolidated, traditionally we have always thought about synaptic plasticity. 

[myelin plasticity] 

• {author} findings suggest that:
•  an entirely distinct form of plasticity [myelin plasticity] also plays a critical role in consolidating memories,” Frankland says. One well-known researcher on how memories are made, James McGaugh of the University of California, Irvine, agrees: “The paper reports novel and very highly interesting findings that … suggest new directions for understanding how memories are formed.”

Minding the strengthening and weakening of synapses

 is critical for learning, but so is getting to the station on time to make the right connections,

 and that’s where nonneuronal cells making myelin to speed transmission through neural networks assist in forming new memories.