A new study that can be found in The Journal of Neuroscience reveals how brain inflammation affects memory. University of California, Irvine neuroscientists Jennifer Czerniawski and John Guzowski placed rats in two similar environments but shocked the rats' feet in one of them. Once the rats learned which environment they would be shocked in and learned to avoid it, they were given a bacteria that stimulates brain inflammation. A protein called cytokine was released in the rats' brains because of the inflammation, which resulted in the rats being unable to remember which environment would electrically shock them.
The kind of memory that was affected by the cytokine is known as "complex discrimination memory," which is the memory type that helps us differentiate between daily activities. The hippocampus region of the brain, also known for being the first place affected in the onset of Alzheimer's disease, was the main place affected in the study. The scientists claim the memory was affected by the cytokines disrupting neuron connections that facilitate memory creation and recall. The researchers hope the findings could help future attempts to limit brain damage resulting from chemotherapy.