BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Scientists showed they can selectively knock out the memories associated with drugs in research with rats,-- a finding that may help in the development of new ways to overcome addiction.

    Addicts crave drugs and suffer relapse not just because of the alluring high of drugs, but also because they are compelled by the powerful, haunting memory associations with the environment surrounding their drug taking. Thus, treatments that could eliminate those memory associations could prove effective in treating addiction, researchers believe.

    In two studies in the September 15, 2005, issue of Neuron, two groups of researchers report important progress toward such treatments, showing that they can selectively knock out memory associations connected with receiving cocaine.

    Disrupting these memories in human addicts could be "a potentially powerful and novel approach to the treatment of drug addiction by diminishing the behavioral impact of drug cues and thereby relapse," wrote researcher Jonathan Lee of the University of Cambridge.

    Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found similar results in their own study with rats. They concluded that, although these strong memories often lure users to relapse back into drug use, they may also be "susceptible to disruption by pharmacological or other neurobiological interventions, providing opportunities for new therapies."

    "To our knowledge, the current study is the first to identify a molecular mechanism that blocks both retrieval and reconsolidation of any type of memory," wrote Courtney Miller and John Marshall of the University of California.

    "It is widely accepted that memories for drug-associates stimuli, which are strong and resistant to extinction, are responsible for much of the relapse seen in addicts. The present findings suggest that these highly resistant memories may again be made labile and thus susceptible to disruption by pharmacological or other neurobiological interventions, providing opportunities for new therapies," they concluded.

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Source:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/15/content_3494436.htm