Genetics of transient amnesia highlights a vascular role in memory

Where memory is stored and how it is processed is poorly understood. Traditionally, genetics of low prevalence traits have been used to get a better understanding of naturally occuring conditions across species. Here, we conduct a genome-wide association of transient global amnesia (TGA), a specific type of heritable amnesia characterized by a sudden, temporary episode of memory loss, across 4,303 patients and over 1 million controls from three population biobanks in Finland, United States, and the United Kingdom, to better understand the genetic basis of memory. We find nine loci associated with TGA (p .9) of being the causally relevant variant using fine-mapping, replicated across 3 cohorts. Furthermore, we find enrichment for a specific cell type, pericyte cells, which are a key part of the neurovascular unit, which includes astrocytes and neurons, and control interactions between neurons and the cerebral vasculature, implicating a direct vascular role in memory formation and retrieval. We anticipate these genetic studies at a larger scale to bring new biological understanding and therapeutic insights into the brain and memory.