X-Message-Number: 2376
From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344)
Subject: CRYONICS LTP Advances to Long Term Memory

One of the requirements for a successful cryonic suspension is that
it preserve (most of) our memory.  We are not yet able to measure
how well it preserves our memory, though, because we do not yet know
how our memory works or how it is stored in our brains.  Fortunately,
progress toward that understanding is advancing rapidly.

The July 1, 1993 issue of Periastron reports on recent articles
concerning how Long Term Potentiation (LTP) relates to long term
memory.  As Thomas Donaldson describes it:

  "LTP takes place at the synapses of nerve cells after repeated
   stimulation; the synapses will pass new impulses much more easily
   than before."

This certainly suggests that LTP may have something to do with memory,
but it wasn't until recently that experimenters have been able to
analyze the biochemistry of the events surrounding LTP sufficiently
well to show the connection.  While it is not yet conclusively proven,
the latest results strongly suggest that LTP is indeed the first
stage of long term memory.  Of course, this is but a step in a long
sequence of advances needed to understand memory, but it is encouraging
to see the progress.

    Periastron
    Editor: Thomas Donaldson
    P.O. Box 2365
    Sunnyvale, CA 94087
    Email: , 
    $2.50/issue both in USA and outside USA

                              Kevin Q. Brown
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