While calcium’s importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons – in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory – has been less well defined. In a new study, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) offer new insights into how calcium in the mitochondria – the powerhouse of all cells – can impact the development of the brain and adult cognition. In particular, the team showed in fruit flies, a widely used model system, that blocking a channel that bring calcium to the mitochondria, called “mitochondrial calcium uniporter,” causes memory impairment but does not alter learning capacity. To read more, click here.
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