Humans produce four variants of this magnesium transporter, each encoded by a different gene. The results suggest that the transporter may help adjust magnesium levels inside brain cells in response to neural activity. Unlike normal flies, those without the transporter showed no memory improvement after eating magnesium-enriched food. Mutant flies that lacked this transporter showed memory impairments. In fruit flies, by contrast, the memory boost depended on a protein that transports magnesium out of neurons. In rodents, magnesium increased levels of a receptor protein for a brain chemical called glutamate. show that magnesium improves memory in the flies via a different mechanism to that reported previously for rodents. Flies that had received the extra magnesium showed better memory for the odor when tested 24 hours after training. Both groups were then trained to associate an odor with a food reward. One group of flies was fed with standard cornmeal for several days, while the other group received cornmeal supplemented with magnesium. now show that magnesium supplements also boost memory performance in fruit flies. Even elderly rodents with a condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease show less memory loss when given magnesium supplements. Both young and old animals benefit from additional magnesium. Studies in rodents have shown that adding magnesium supplements to food improves how well the animals perform on memory tasks. While it might sound almost too good to be true, there is some evidence that this is the case for at least one mineral, magnesium. But is there any evidence that increasing your intake of specific vitamins or minerals could help boost your brain power? We know too that vitamins and minerals are essential for overall good health. We know that foods that are good for the heart, such as nuts, oily fish and berries, are also good for the brain. The proverbial saying ‘you are what you eat’ perfectly summarizes the concept that our diet can influence both our mental and physical health. We propose that regulated neuronal Mg 2+ efflux is critical for normal and Mg 2+-enhanced memory. Functional imaging suggests that UEX-dependent efflux is required for slow rhythmic maintenance of KC Mg 2+. Moreover, UEX localization in mushroom body Kenyon cells (KCs) is altered in memory-defective flies harboring mutations in cAMP-related genes. UEX contains a putative cyclic nucleotide-binding homology domain and its mutation separates a vital role for uex from a function in memory. Normal and Mg 2+-enhanced fly memory appears independent of NMDA receptors in the mushroom body and instead requires expression of a conserved CNNM-type Mg 2+-efflux transporter encoded by the unextended ( uex) gene. Here we show that Mg 2+ feeding also enhances long-term memory in Drosophila. Memory-enhancing capacity was largely ascribed to increases in hippocampal synaptic density and elevated expression of the NR2B subunit of the NMDA-type glutamate receptor.
Dietary magnesium (Mg 2+) supplementation can enhance memory in young and aged rats.
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