Newswise — Finding our way home from work or school is something most of us take for granted. Persons with Alzheimer’s disease, however, can get lost even when moving between such familiar locations and often struggle to find their way home.
Exactly the same inability to get home is also seen in people who do not have Alzheimer’s disease, but instead have suffered damage to a part of their brain called the retrosplenial cortex.
In a newly published study in eLife, University of Michigan researchers have identified a unique brain cell found only in the retrosplenial cortex that starts to explain why this brain region is so important in helping us easily move from place to place. The retrosplenial cortex receives incoming signals from many other brain areas.
Working with mice, the researchers used a technique called optogenetics, where light is used to selectively activate each…
