Traumatic memories can be erased after all
Traumatic memories can be erased after all Fear memories get registered in the brain forever. However, a new study has offered fresh hope after claiming that traumatic experiences can be memories can be erased after all wiped out . A recent paper in Science, evaluated by three Faculty Members for F1000, reports an extraordinary finding that supports the use of a drug to control recollections of traumatic incidents. The researchers demonstrated that, in mice, proteins known as extra cellular matrix chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans form ‘neural nets’ in the brain that protect against the erasure of memory. They also reported that, when these mice were given a drug called chondroitinase ABC, fear memories were more likely to disappear than for those mice in the control group. The finding has important therapeutic implications for sufferers of anxiety disorders, as it could allow doctors to erase the memories of patients who have had extremely traumatic experiences, such as survivors ...