LONDON: In a stunning finding that could have huge impacts for sufferers of brain trauma, a new study has found a way to restore previously “lost” memories by stimulating neurons in the brain.
Researchers were able to reactive memories in mice that had not been lost, but were simply lurking deep within the brain, where they were repressed rather than eliminated — indicating that those who have suffered brain trauma may not have lost memories at all, but simply lost the ability to recall them, according to a Washington Post report.
The study, which was published in the journal Science, could herald big breakthroughs when it comes to treating trauma victims and other sufferers of amnesia, restoring memory that seemingly was gone forever but still existed within the brain.
By using optogenetics, scientists were able to use a specially engineered virus to introduce a special protein to specific neurons tied to those memories. The virus makes the neurons sensitive to blue light, and then scientists can switch those neurons on and off.
They introduced the mice to a traumatic incident — shocking them over and over in an enclosure — and took notes of which neurons were stimulated. They then used optogenetics to tweak those neurons in a new batch of mice and put them through the same experience, causing them to fear the enclosure.
The scientists caused them to “lose” those memories by introducing retrograde amnesia with a drug, and the mice stopped fearing the enclosure, but when scientists used blue light to stimulate those neurons again, they feared the shock chamber once more.
The findings are exciting, but unfortunately the report suggests that a cure for humans is a long way off. For one thing, the procedure is invasive and invites ethical questions, and there are significant logistical and technical problems to overcome. But, it does provide some hope of an eventual cure for amnesia.
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