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A new mouse study that set out to test how sleep helps stabilize new memories has identified cells that may offer a genetic target for accessing circuits implicated in cognitive disorders. Researchers led by Min Xu and Wanling Peng from the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences focused on interneurons that gate the generation of ripples, which are brief bursts of electrical activity that are critical for memory consolidation.

The targeted cells lie in the hippocampus, a brain region important for learning and memory. When researchers quieted these brain cells, it impaired the animals' ability to remember where objects had been or recognize a previously encountered mouse. The experiments suggest that sleep can look normal on standard measurements while the work of strengthening memories falters.

The study, published in Neuron, connects chemical changes during sleep to the activity that helps new memories persist.

The team genetically modified a group of mice so that they could monitor and selectively control a population of neurons with high expression of the Chrm2 gene. These cells become particularly active during non-rapid-eye-movement, or non-REM, sleep and were also active during quiet wakefulness.

To test the role of these neurons in memory, the researchers let adult male mice explore two identical objects. The animals then returned to their home cages for five hours, during which they mostly slept.

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