April 30 : A new study conducted by researchers at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on mice has suggested a way to restore lost memories by natural ‘rewiring’ of brain cells.

According to the researchers, this study can be the forerunner for developing new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease or other neurodegenerative diseases.

Li-Huei Tsai and colleagues used mice that were genetically modified to feed an antibiotic to generate a protein called p25, which is associated with brain cell death.

Before causing p25 production, the mice were placed in a tank of water and trained to find their way to a platform sunk just below the surface. After the mice had developed a long-term memory of the job, the team induced p25 in the rodents, which led to loss of neurons, learning ability and memory.

The mice were placed in an setting full of toys and wheels. When the stimulated mice were retested, the researchers found they did better at the memory task than before.

“If memories can be recovered then that suggests they were never erased and indicates that perceived memory loss is likely to be due to an inability to retrieve memories,” New Scientist quoted Tsai, as saying.

The mice from the setting turned out to have higher levels of ‘synaptic marker proteins’, an indication that the ‘wiring’ between neurons in the brain had been re-established.

The researchers then induced histone-tail acetylations that could help pick up long-term memory. Tsai’s team targeted enzymes called HDACs, which prevent acetylation of histones.

The researchers took mice that had lost long-term memory and injected them with a drug that inhibited HDACs. When tested, the team found that these mice were better able to find the platform inthe water.

Tsai said that HDAC inhibitors seem to cause naturally the rewiring of neurons.”If we could use drugs to facilitate that process I believe it wouldbe very beneficial to people suffering from advanced stages of neurodegeneration,” she said.

Karl Giese, who studies learning and memory at Kings College London in the UK, said that the study could have therapeutic value.

“Before this we didn’t really have a handle on what we needed to do to treat dementia, so to have identified HDAC inhibitors as a drug,” Giese said. (ANI)

Tags:memory-loss