A study has paint a picture it may be possible to delete memories that trigger anxiety and post - traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) , based on experiment in snails .
The research was carried out by scientists at Columbia University Medical Center ( CUMC ) and McGill University . The finding were published in the journalCurrent Biology .
Part of the fashion brains make long - term memory is by increase the strength of connections between neurons and keep those over metre . By weakening those connection , it may be possible to alter specific memories .
In this study , the researchers shake up two centripetal neurons that were connected by a single motor neuron in the devil dog snailAplysia . The goal was to producetwo memory , one being associative – that is , consort it with a finicky event . The other was non - associative , which concerns something that ’s indirectly related to an event .
The researchers give the good example of walking down a dark alley and getting mug , and then seeing a billet corner after . The computer memory of the mugging would be an associative memory , while seeing a post box later – which might cue you of the mugging – would be a non - associative retentiveness .
" The example I care to give is , if you are take the air in a high - offence field and you take a shortcut through a blue alley and get mug , and then you bechance to see a letter box nearby , you might get really nervous when you desire to send something by and by on , " said Samuel Schacher , a co - author on the paper from CUMC , in astatement .
They found that the potency of the connections of the associative and non - associative memories in the snail ’s brain could be erased by blocking one of two unlike types ofprotein kinase M(PKM ) molecules . These are responsible for maintaining each connective , with the different form selectively blocking either associative ( PKM Apl III ) or non - associative ( PKM Apl I ) memories . immobilize other molecules that interact with PKM could also erase a retentivity .
While this was only performed in a snail , the researchers said this could be useful for human memory because we ’ve got like PKM proteins , which play a role in the organization of our retentive - term memories .
You probably wo n’t be able-bodied to simply blue-pencil thing you do n’t like from your brainiac , like the end of a Bible or motion-picture show . But for those who have memories that dramatically affect their well - being , this may provide some sort of solution .
" Memory erasure has the potency to alleviate PTSD and anxiety disorders by removing the non - associative computer storage that causes the maladaptive physiological response , " says Jiangyuan Hu , also a co - author on the study from CUMC . " By sequestrate the exact molecules that maintain non - associative memory , we may be able to develop drugs that can treat anxiety without affect the affected role ’s normal memory of retiring event . "
