Researchers make caffeine breakthrough

Paul Smithson

22/11/2011 12:20:16

Scientists believe they have made progress in understanding how and where caffeine impacts the brain.

The researchers looked at how a brain region known as CA2 - part of the hippocampus - reacted in rats when they were fed varying amounts of caffeine, according to a Nature Neuroscience study reported by Science News.

As the dosage was increased, a greater amount of brain activity was recorded in CA2, offering insight into how a cup of espresso coffee may affect a person’s mind.

The hippocampus is used to form spatial memories, so this research on how caffeine affects it could have implications for studies on learning and memory.

Serena Dudek, co-author from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, said: “We don’t know what it looks like in humans, but in rodents, we think this is the area most sensitive to caffeine.”

Reporting on the same study, BoingBoing contributor David Pescovitz noted that most studies into the effects of caffeine are done with relatively high doses of the substance, whereas these latest experiments started off giving rats the weight-adjusted equivalent of two cups of coffee.

Even small amounts such as this appear to strengthen the nerve connections between cells in the hippocampus.