Loud noises affect memory
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Exposure to high-intensity noise, but they are not enough to cause injury to the ear, affect the processes of memory and learning, according to a study published in the journal Brain Research reveals.
Researchers of the Centre for pharmacological studies and botanists (Buenos Aires, Argentina), worked with rats aged between 15 and 30 days of age, equivalent to between ages of 6 years and Adolescence of a human being. "We determine that a single exposure to noise over two hours is sufficient to generate cellular damage and disruption in the conduct," explained Laura Guelman, one of the authors at DiCYT. The scientists observed a series of morphological changes in the nucleus of cells of the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with memory and learning processes.
15 Days after exposure to noise, between 95 and 97 decibel intensity, the animals showed flaws in memory and a decrease in the levels of anxiety, something that according to Guelman is not positive: "Animals presented a lower level of alert to the danger, what would prevent them from escaping a possible predator".
Against the expected damages were more evident in rats that suffered a single exposure of two hours duration, those that were subjected to noise for two weeks, to two hours a day of noise. This could be due to animals is age still are developing their nervous system, and this has the capacity to adapt and respond to the injury.
This work would be a first step to find a drug that helps prevent these injuries in the hippocampus. "Unravel the mechanisms that mediate between the noise and the cellular damage might help to find an agent that interferes with them", explained researcher.
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