New Drug Promises Improved Memory

A recent study conducted by Dr. Todd Sacktor of SUNY Downstate Medical Center has found a chemical that seems to be capable of erasing long-term memories. The chemical, dubbed ZIP, has been shown in rats to rapidly erase memories when injected into the brain.

Sacktor and his colleagues observed that memories are formed through a process called long-term potentiation, which occurs when brain cells repeatedly stimulate adjacent cells.

This repeated activation leads to a strengthening of the connections between the cells and the accumulation of a specific chemical in the activated cells. This chemical increases the sensitivity of the cells that are receiving the signals, and it is this heightened sensitivity that is responsible for the formation of memories. By destroying this chemical, ZIP resets the sensitivity of the cells and effectively erases the memory.

ZIP has obvious therapeutic benefits: it could be used to erase traumatic memories in abuse victims, treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in soldiers returning from active duty or even help people break addictions. Alternatively, the knowledge gained about the memory process through ZIP could lead to the production of memory-enhancing drugs. These drugs could potentially be used to treat learning and memory disorders, or even diseases such as Alzheimer's, but they could also be abused for personal gain.

If memory-enhancing drugs became openly available, everyone, students in particular, could feel pressured to take them just to keep up with the competition. Like steroids in professional baseball, they would provide an unfair advantage to users, leaving those relying on their natural memories behind.

Leonard Teng '12 acknowledges the compulsion to take such drugs, but also expresses concerns about the risks involved. "Every drug has side effects," he explains. "If it's not necessary, I wouldn't take it. But if not taking it meant falling behind everyone else, I guess I would feel like I had to." Health concerns about a drug that tampers with the basic molecular foundation of memory are more than valid. Even if side effects are minimal, there could be unseen long-term effects as well.

Despite these recent advances in the field of memory, we are unlikely to see commercially available drugs of this type in the near future; they are still no more than a prospect on the horizon inspired by new research. Even if significant advances were to be made in the near future, the process of developing, testing, and receiving FDA certification for a new drug can take decades.

But the process has begun. A powerful memory-enhancing drug would create millions of dollars in profit for the first pharmaceutical company to successfully create it, and the race is on, regardless of ethical concerns. Drug companies know that breakthroughs in the field of neuroscience, such as the discovery of ZIP, are paving the way for the future of pharmaceuticals.
It is virtually inevitable that memory-enhancing drugs will one day be created. Today's advances in understanding how the brain works will translate into tomorrow's modifications of those processes. The discovery of ZIP, which is just one breakthrough in the booming field of neuroscience, opens doors for an incredible number of possibilities for the future, ranging from new ways to quit smoking to curing Alzheimer's disease to treating PTSD.

Source : www.hamilton.edu