Scientists identify the brain cell that allows us to find the keys to our car

Scientists have discovered a new type of brain cell that will help us remember where we left off our personal belongings.

GPS – like brain cells are already known to store ‘maps’ of the places we have been, such as a kitchen or inside an office.

However, the recently discovered Vector Trace cells allow us to identify objects – such as car or mobile phone keys – within these ‘mind maps’.

The British researcher behind the study says future research on Vector Trace cells could help explain why people with dementia lose memory.

Vector Trace cells are a new type of neuron (also called a zero cell).

Neurons carry electrical impulses from one place to another, transmitting information through electrical and chemical signals.

Vector Trace cells encode object-related distances and directions, as well as memory for the presence of recently observed, but now absent, objects.

‘Vector Trace cells look like they connect to creative brain networks that help us plan our actions and imagine complex situations in the eye of our mind,’ said study co-author Dr Colin Lever at Durham University.

Vector tracing cells seem to work together allowing us to recreate the spatial relationships between ourselves and objects, and between objects in sight, even when those objects are not directly visible to us.

Vector Trace cells appear to be a candidate for how our brain achieves this. ‘

Memory cells were first discovered in the 1970s by Professor John O’Keefe and in the 2000s by Professors Edvard and May-Britt Moser.

This discovery, for which they won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Medicine, sheds light on one of the great mysteries of neuroscience – how do we know where we are in space?

They discovered that the brain has ‘place cells’ that are specifically for storing memories and together they form a kind of map.

‘I’m delighted,’ said Dr O’Keefe from this new study.

‘Not only have they discovered a new type of brain cell, the Vector Trace cell, but their analysis of its features is extensive and robust.

‘This discovery sheds great light on this important but enigmatic structure of the brain, supporting the idea that it was in fact the memory system we had always believed existed.’

The new discovery could help explain why people with conditions such as depression and Alzheimer’s disease suffer from memory loss.

There are around 850,000 people in the UK with dementia, and the number is growing as the population ages.

‘Vector Trace cells should help advance the science of Alzheimer’s disease,’ said study co-author Dr Steven Poulter, also at Durham University.

‘Vector Trace cells help me remember where my daughter buried her shells – ie three meters from my deck chair that side.’

Vector Trace cells are in areas of the brain that are among the first to be attacked by brain problems such as Alzheimer’s disease.

This may explain why a common symptom and a major early warning sign in Alzheimer’s is missing or misusing items, according to Dr. Poulter.

Earlier diagnosis and better treatments could be developed as a result, the researchers say.

‘This interesting work on Vector Trace cells depletes other levels of our memory, so often lost by brain damage and aging,’ said Professor Lord Robert Winston.

This discovery gives us an insight into specific types of dementia that are now extremely important.

The idea that the loss or alteration of these cells could be an early biomarker of the disease could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatments for one of the most difficult medical conditions. ‘

The findings were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.