Little-known growth factor enhances memory, prevents forgetting in rats

A naturally occurring growth factor significantly boosted retention and prevented forgetting of a fear memory when injected into rats memor circuitry during time-limited windows when memorie become fragile and changeable. Animals treated with insulin-like growth factor (iGF-II) excelled at remembering to avoid a location where they had previously experienced a mild shock.

"To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of potent memory enhancement via a naturally occurring factor that readily passes through the blood-brain barrier – and thus may hold promise for treatment development," explained Cristina Alberini, Ph.D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, a grantee of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Source:

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-potential-therapeutic-long-term-memory.html