Discovery of 'bio marker' proteins that can help erase brain-damaged memories

- Discovery-Dr. Vihari shadow

- Fact-based memory describes the ability to remember names and locations and phone numbers. While instinctive memories are associated with emotions

In Jin Dagi we often experience a traumatic event whose trauma feels very deep in the mind. Whether we have been the victims of a terrorist attack, a major natural disaster, a historic crime, a major car accident, the brutal murder of an innocent person, or the rape of a helpless child, we are forever reminded of it. Often it hurts us. Having gone through the experience of such a traumatic event is called 'PTSD'. Its full name is 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder'. It can be called post-campaign stress disorder. The stress that arises in the mind after a traumatic experience creates a kind of disorder in the mind. Impressions are gained in a fluid, global, diffused way.

Is there any medicine to erase such memories from the mind? There is a lot of research going on for him. A few years ago, American psychiatrist Roger Pittman and other researchers found from experiments on rats that the fear-enhancing effects on memory formation in the brain could be reduced with a drug called beta blockers. Thus beta blocker is a drug to control high blood pressure.

The drug was also tested on PTSD patients. People who suffer from ‘PTSD’ often experience intense flashbacks, nightmares and often experience guilt or fear or excessive pain. This can cause her heart rate to increase and cause her extreme mental stress. Arrangements were made for the victim of a major car accident or rape or any other tragic event at the hospital to have two options for treatment. In one knee the patient was given a beta blocker propranolol pill and in the other knee a placebo treatment was given. The medicine given in placebo treatment is not effective but the patient is assured that he will be cured by the medicine he is given. Often this treatment makes the patient feel better or even relieved. But that effect is not permanent.

Roger Pitma asked patients who had experienced a traumatic event to describe it and recorded what he said. Three months later he asked patients to give him a sketch of what had happened while listening to that audio tape. Simultaneously Roger Pittman noted his heartbeat and other physical reactions. He found that 3% of those who took placebo treatment showed signs of stress, such as increased heart rate and sweating. But none of those treated with beta blocker propranolol showed signs of such stress. Thus the drug worked to dispel the painful memories that had taken root in the mind and seemed to be preventable with 'PTSD' and the drug.

Meanwhile another team of researchers also did some experiments. They told people who were suffering from PTSD to take beta-blocker propranolol pills manually when there was a flashback to the traumatic event. At that time, the memory is also fickle, that is, it is mutable. The team examined and studied this treatment.

But when all these trials were conducted on a PTSD patient or a person who is at risk of getting pain, one of the important things was to remind the patient of the feeling of being hit by a lottery of one crore or the intense feeling of both these incidents. The pill reduced and beta blocker propranolol, able to turn it into a normal, emotionless memory. Other than the patient's painful and emotional memories that are valuable to him and he wants to keep them at a higher level, he was also seen being pushed into the background, which was a big risk for the drug.

Second, the results, i.e. the effectiveness of the drug, were found to be different when repeated experiments were performed on patients. In some patients, the drug does not work at all. This raises doubts as to whether this drug can improve emotional memories.

More recently, scientists at Cambridge University have shown that the presence of a specific protein can determine whether emotional memories can be changed or completely erased. That is, a significant protein can be used as a marker. Scientists currently identify two main types of memory: fact-based memory and instinctive memories. Fact-based memory describes the ability to remember names and locations and phone numbers. While instinctive memories are associated with emotions. Amy Milton of Cambridge University and her team have found that a specific protein, the ‘cone’ protein, can determine the strength of the connection between different neurons in the brain. This finding may suggest that beta-blockers are likely to block or alter memories using propranolol.

The presence of this particular protein - the ‘cone’ protein, which acts as a scaffold for the receptors that determine the strength of the connections between neurons - determines whether the memories of those treated with propranolol can be improved. If this protein is degraded, memories can be improved. But, if this protein appears to be present, it shows that the memories are not degradable. This research explains why propranolol does not always cause dementia.

Thus, research is still being done on mice. But the important thing is that, with more research, these findings can be very useful for humans.

Like all great research, this study answers some questions but many questions remain to be answered and require more research. But it seems that this protein could be one of the first doors to understanding the biochemistry of emotional memories. The discovery of this biomarker could lead to some incredible findings in its ability to treat conditions like ‘PTSD’ or help people to forget subconscious trauma.