Money Matters, Simplified.
Scientists nearing breakthrough in erasing painful memories
by Jaspreet Virk - April 30, 2011 - comments
According to researchers, inhibiting the activity of PKM, a protein which plays a critical role in long-term memory maintenance, may eliminate trauma.
Are ghosts of traumatic memories haunting you, and all you wish is a way out? Well, this could soon become a reality, as scientists claim that they are closer to a breakthrough that could wipe out painful memories from our brains.
According to the research findings published in April 27 issue of 'The Journal of Neuroscience' a specific protein kinase called PKM could someday help in eliminating bad memories from our minds.
Scientists claim that they have been able to delete or substantially weaken long-term memory in both aplysia, a marine snail in a petri dish.
Lead researcher David Glanzman, a UCLA professor of integrative biology and physiology and of neurobiology, stated, “We will be able to go into one’s brain, identify the location of the memory of a traumatic experience and try to dampen it down.”
The research findings could help in developing treatments for war veterans, drug addicts, victims of rape or horrific attacks or those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
How memory can be erased?
According to researchers, inhibiting the activity of PKM, a protein which plays a critical role in long-term memory maintenance, may eliminate trauma.
The scientists studied PKM in marine snail to understand how this protein is associated with a long-term memory.
They analyzed sensitization, the process by which a cellular receptor becomes more likely to respond to a stimulus.
When marine snails are attacked by a predator, their sensitivity to environmental stimuli heightens.
Researchers found that blocking the activity of PMK erased memory for long-term sensitization in the snail.
“Almost all the processes that are involved in memory in the snail also have been shown to be involved in memory in the brains of mammals,” said Glanzman.
Study implications
The research findings could help in developing treatments for war veterans, drug addicts, victims of rape or horrific attacks or those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Glanzman stated that as they have found a way to erase painful memories, and someday they will be “reduce the trauma” from brains.
“Not in the immediate future, but I think we will be able to go into one's brain, identify the location of the memory of a traumatic experience and try to dampen it down,” he added.