Washington, March 3 (IANS) Learning keeps the brain healthy and helps in limiting the debilitating effects of ageing on memory and the mind, a new study confirms.

UC Irvine neurobiologists are providing the first visual evidence that learning promotes brain health -- and, therefore, that mental stimulation could stave off age-related cognitive and memory decline.

Using a novel visualisation technique they devised to study memory, a research team led by Lulu Chen and Christine Gall found that everyday forms of learning animate neuron receptors that help keep brain cells functioning at optimum levels.

These receptors are activated by a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which facilitates the growth and differentiation of the connections, or synapses, responsible for communication among neurons. BDNF is key in the formation of memories.

'The findings confirm a critical relationship between learning and brain growth and point to ways we can amplify that relationship through possible future treatments,' says Chen, a graduate researcher in anatomy and neurobiology.

Study results appear in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of March 1, according to ScienceDaily.com.

'This relationship has implications for maintaining good brain health,' says Gall, a professor of anatomy and neurobiology.