Drug addiction treatment with memory-erasing injections

American researchers have just revealed a new, groundbreaking experimental drug that can erase memories associated with drug addiction in drug addicts.

Just one injection of an experimental drug can selectively eliminate drug-related memories in addicts. Illustration photo: CCTV

Today, people who have "dabbled" in drugs often struggle with memories that lure them back into addiction even after detoxification and months or even years of drug-free living.

According to the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in the US, their newly announced discovery will bring us closer to a new addiction treatment, based on selectively erasing drug-related memories that are dangerous and persistent.

"We now have a valid target and by disabling that target we can destroy and erase memories associated with the substance, without damaging other memories. Hopefully, when combined with traditional addiction and abstinence therapies, we can reduce or eliminate relapse for 'brown fairy disciples' after a single course of treatment by removing the power of individual triggers," said Professor Courtney Miller of the TSRI.

A study published by TSRI in the journal Molecular Psychiatry showed that a single injection of an experimental drug called blebbistatin prevented relapse in animals to methamphetamine (also known as “ice”). The new study builds on research conducted two years ago by Miller’s lab.

In 2013, Miller and her colleagues made the surprising discovery that drug-related memories could be selectively erased by targeting actin, the protein that provides the structural scaffolding for memories in the brain. But the therapeutic potential of this discovery seemed limited by one problem: actin is so important throughout the body that taking a drug that inhibits it, even just once, could be fatal.

In the new study, Miller's team reports a major advance in discovering a safe way to selectively attack actin in the brain, via myosin II, a protein that helps form memories. To do this, the researchers used a compound called blebbistatin that controls the myosin II protein.

The results of the study revealed that a single injection of blebbistatin successfully destroyed the long-term storage of drug-related memories and prevented relapse for at least a month in meth-addicted animals. In addition, according to the researchers, while actin-attacking drugs typically have to be delivered directly to the brain, blebbistatin can still reach the brain even when injected into the peripheral part of the body and especially in healthy animals.

The research team hopes that their new discovery can soon be applied to humans to treat drug addiction - a problem in countries around the world today.

According to vietnamnet.