Healthy gut-brain communication helps support memory

We’re highlighting a recent article in Nature Communications featuring 192-IgG-SAP.
- Tierno Lauer L et al. The vagus nerve promotes memory in rats via nutrient-induced septo-hippocampal acetylcholine signaling. Nat Commun , 2026.
The vagus nerve acts as a communication highway between the gut and the brain, carrying information about nutrient intake. Researchers found that eating activates memory-related pathways in the hippocampus, helping the brain remember feeding experiences. This memory boost occurs through the release of acetylcholine (ACh) in the hippocampus, triggered by signals traveling through the vagus nerve. When rats consumed nutrients, acetylcholine levels in the hippocampus increased, supporting memory formation. Disrupting the pathway—by damaging vagus nerve connections or removing specific cholinergic neurons—eliminated this response.
192-IgG-SAP (ATS Cat. #IT-01) was injected into the medial septum to ablate cholinergic neurons.
Rats with a disrupted gut-brain signaling pathway had trouble remembering the location of food, suggesting the pathway helps create memories related to eating. Rats fed a Western diet (which is high-fat and sugar-enriched) early in life also showed impaired vagus nerve signaling and poorer memory performance.
The findings suggest that healthy gut-brain communication helps support memory, while poor diet may impair memory by disrupting this pathway.