Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Scientists Erase Specific Memories In Mice

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday October 23, @07:57AM

from the where's-the-cheese dept.
BiotechScience
Ostracus writes"It sounds like science fiction, but scientists say it might one day be possible to erase undesirable memories from the brain, selectively and safely. After exposing mice to emotionally powerful stimuli, such as a mild shock to their paws, the scientists then observed how well or poorly the animals subsequently recalled the particular trauma as their brain's expression of CaMKII was manipulated up and down. When the brain was made to overproduce CaMKII at the exact moment the mouse was prodded to retrieve the traumatic memory, the memory wasn't just blocked, it appeared to be fully erased."

No comments: