Scientists reverse memory loss in mice by injecting their brains with young spinal fluid.

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A team at Stanford University has demonstrated a new approach to reversing memory loss — in mice. An infusion of spinal fluid from young mice reversed the memory loss typically seen in aging animals, the team reported this month in the journal Nature. A growth factor found in the fluid also improved memory, though to a lesser degree, says Tony Wyss-Coray, a neuroscientist and senior author of the study. "When we put the factor in the mice, they actually are better able to perform a memory task where they have to remember something that happened to them (a small electric shock)," Wyss-Coray says. The finding hints at "a whole new era" in the search for treatments for Alzheimer's disease and other age-related conditions that affect a person's memory and thinking, says Maria Lehtinen, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, who wrote a commentary that accompanied the study.

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