Normal-looking sleep can mask memory problems, study suggests

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A mouse study suggests that apparently normal sleep may not guarantee that memory-consolidation processes are functioning properly. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences identified interneurons involved in generating electrical ripples and proposed them as a potential genetic target for investigating cognitive disorders.

A new mouse study that set out to test how sleep helps stabilize new memories has identified cells that may offer a genetic target for accessing circuits implicated in cognitive disorders. Researchers led by Min Xu and Wanling Peng from the Institute of Neuroscience at the Chinese Academy of Sciences focused on interneurons that gate the generation of ripples, which are brief bursts of electrical activity that are critical for memory consolidation.