Neuroscientists Successfully Restored Missing Memories; Is Alzheimer's Disease Finally Defeated?
A major breakthrough in brain science happens this week when a group of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology successfully restored "lost" memories. The study could be a huge victory in the fight against Alzheimer's Disease.
In Wednesday, Mar. 16, the school has published in their official news outlet their findings which suggest that they may now be able to retrieve recent memories of Alzheimer's sufferers that are lost from the disease.
Professor of Biology and Neuroscience in Picower Institure for Learning and Memory and senior co-author of the experiment for the Department of Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT, Susumu Tonegawa, said that, "The important point is, this a proof of concept. That is, even if a memory seems to be gone, it is still there. It's a matter of how to retrieve it."
The experiment that took place found two groups of mice: one with Alzheimer's and the other with normal brains. Both were put in a chamber where they received a foot shock. All the mice were transferred to a different receptacle and then days later, returned to the shock chamber. Those with normal brains exhibit fear when they were put back. Those with the disease didn't seem to flinch, suggesting that they don't remember the experience.
The scientists then shined light on the specific brain cells that reportedly encode the painful event. Only then that the mice with Alzheimer's showed fear.
"Directly activating the cells that we believe are holding the memory gets them to retrieve it," Dheeraj Roy, an MIT graduate student and lead author of the paper, was quoted as saying. "This suggests that it is indeed an access problem to the information, not that they're unable to learn or store this memory."
Tonegawa reiterated that with this study, they may be able to pave way the development of technology that will help activate or deactivate cells deep inside the brain which are connected to memory loss and retrieval.
Stay tuned for more updates.
