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Scared By That Memory? Erase It

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Los Angeles Times

Published: October 25, 2008

Scientists have succeeded in permanently erasing frightening memories in mice, an early step toward the development of treatments for people haunted by traumas they can't forget.

According to a study in the journal Neuron this week, researchers genetically manipulated the brains of mice to overproduce a key enzyme that appeared selectively to wipe memories from the animals' brains.

The enzyme, calcium/calmodulin protein kinase II (CaMKII) also is present in humans, making it a possible target for a drug to treat post-traumatic stress syndrome and other psychological disorders, scientists said.

According to the report, researchers from the Medical College of Georgia and East China Normal University in Shanghai trained mice to associate environmental cues - a specific tone and cage - with an electric shock, then looked to see what the animals could remember.

Ordinary mice learn to freeze in fear when confronted with those cues. The engineered animals, however, did not show fear when placed in the cage or exposed to the tone, a sign they did not remember those things meant a shock was coming.

Researchers also found they selectively could erase fearful memories related to the shocks while leaving other memories - for example, the fear of cat odor - intact.

Study author Joe Z. Tsien, a neuroscientist, cautioned that major obstacles stand in the way of translating the research into a human drug.

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