Nov 19, 2024 1:47 am
TORONTO — Feeling frazzled lately? It turns out that stress doesn’t just impact your mood, it can fundamentally change how your brain processes and stores your memories. For people dealing with PTSD, those changes in memory can be truly debilitating.
Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto have made a breakthrough in understanding the inner workings of this phenomenon. By studying the brains of mice, they found that stress causes the release of endocannabinoids — chemicals that normally help us form specific, contextual memories. However, in high amounts, these endocannabinoids disrupt the brain’s “gatekeeper” neurons, leading to the formation of overly large, generalized memory engrams.
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