Sci-Tech Information: Scientists Say Fear Could Be Controlled By Modifying DNA
Neuroscientists from The University of Queensland's Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), may have found a way to silence the gene that feeds fear.
QBI senior research fellow Dr Timothy Bredy said the team had shed new light on the processes involved in loosening the grip of fear-related memories, particularly those implicated in conditions such as phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr Bredy said they had discovered a novel mechanism of gene regulation associated with fear extinction, an inhibitory learning process thought to be critical for controlling fear when the response was no longer required.
€Rather than being static, the way genes function is incredibly dynamic and can be altered by our daily life experiences, with emotionally relevant events having a pronounced impact,€ Dr Bredy said.
He said that by understanding the fundamental relationship between the way in which DNA functions without a change in the underlying sequence, future targets for therapeutic intervention in fear-related anxiety disorders could be developed.
€This may be achieved through the selective enhancement of memory for fear extinction by targeting genes that are subject to this novel mode of epigenetic regulation,€ he said.
Mr Xiang Li, a PhD candidate and the study's lead author, said fear extinction was a clear example of rapid behavioural adaptation, and that impairments in this process were critically involved in the development of fear-related anxiety disorders.
€What is most exciting is that we have revealed an epigenetic state that appears to be quite specific for fear extinction,€ Mr Li said.
Dr Bredy said this was the first comprehensive analysis of how fear extinction was influenced by modifying DNA.
€It highlights the adaptive significance of experience-dependent changes in the chromatin landscape in the adult brain,€ he said.
The collaborative research is being done by a team from QBI, the University of California, Irvine, and Harvard University.
Alzheimer's May Be Reversible: Researchers Restore Lost Memory In Mice
Alzheimer's disease is a fatal degenerative disease. Its diagnosis is heartbreaking for both the patient and their family. In a new study, however, a group of scientists in Spain have successfully used gene therapy to reverse memory loss in mice with early stages of Alzheimer's. This discovery could potentially lead to the development of drugs that can be used to treat the condition.
A team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona put Crtc1, a gene which causes the production of a protein normally blocked in patients with Alzheimer's, into the brains of mice. The gene was injected into the mice's hippocampus, the region of the brain associated with memory processing. €The protein that was reinstated by the gene therapy triggers the signals needed to activate the genes involved in long-term memory consolidation,€ the university explained in a statement, according to The Huffington Post.
Results showed that the protein restored through the gene therapy allowed for the activation of genes involved in long-term memory consolidation. The researchers found that alterations of the Crtc1 gene lead to the initial stages of Alzheimer's disease. In individuals with this condition, plaque forms and prevents the Crtc1 protein from functioning properly. €When the Crtc1 protein is altered, the genes responsible for the synapsis, or connections between neurons in the hippocampus, cannot be activated and the individual cannot perform memory tasks correctly,€ explained lead researcher Carolos Saura, to Business Standard.
The study's finding could help in the development of drugs designed to target and activate these genes in humans. This would allow for the recovery of memory and essentially cure Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. It affects one in nine people aged 65 and older, and there are an estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages living with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. By 2015 the number of Americans living with Alzheimer's is expected to reach 7.1 million, and by 2050 the number is estimated to rise to 13.8 million €" unless there is a medical breakthrough. These high numbers are due to longer life expectancies and aging baby boomers.
Researchers Uncover The Link Between Memory And Smell
Scents and smells can form the basis of some of the most significant memories humans form in their lives.
A University of Queensland-led international team has boosted understanding of the smell-memory connection, showing that olfactory memory in honeybees regulates receptors in their antennae.
Bees' antennae function like a human nose, say Queensland Brain Institute scientists Dr Judith Reinhard and Associate Professor Charles Claudianos.
€French novelist Marcel Proust in his novel Remembrance of Things Past (also known as In Search of Lost Time) described how his childhood memories started to flow when he tasted a madeleine cake dipped in linden tea, as he had been given as a child,€ Dr Reinhard said.
€Our team found that odour memories trigger recall of associated events, and that long-term odour memory formation in the brain regulates the sense of smell in the €nose' via regulating the receptor molecules.
€Preferences for different foods and beverages are linked to our sense of smell, and our research shows that long-term scent memories modify how odors are perceived. The study demonstrates for the first time that the ability to smell different things is experience-dependent and modulated by scent conditioning.
€In a nutshell: our smell experiences shape our preferences.€
Dr Claudianos said the findings could help explain the wide variability of smell perception in humans and the neurological mechanism underlying the common phenomenon of €acquired taste€, where repeated sensory experience with a flavour or aroma leads to perceptual changes.
€This knowledge will provide an enormous insight for understanding food and aroma perception,€ he said. €The discovery may also provide a means to detect early problems with memory formation and memory retrieval in the brain.€
Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia or neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease often have an altered sense of smell perception.
QBI senior research fellow Dr Timothy Bredy said the team had shed new light on the processes involved in loosening the grip of fear-related memories, particularly those implicated in conditions such as phobia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Dr Bredy said they had discovered a novel mechanism of gene regulation associated with fear extinction, an inhibitory learning process thought to be critical for controlling fear when the response was no longer required.
€Rather than being static, the way genes function is incredibly dynamic and can be altered by our daily life experiences, with emotionally relevant events having a pronounced impact,€ Dr Bredy said.
He said that by understanding the fundamental relationship between the way in which DNA functions without a change in the underlying sequence, future targets for therapeutic intervention in fear-related anxiety disorders could be developed.
€This may be achieved through the selective enhancement of memory for fear extinction by targeting genes that are subject to this novel mode of epigenetic regulation,€ he said.
Mr Xiang Li, a PhD candidate and the study's lead author, said fear extinction was a clear example of rapid behavioural adaptation, and that impairments in this process were critically involved in the development of fear-related anxiety disorders.
€What is most exciting is that we have revealed an epigenetic state that appears to be quite specific for fear extinction,€ Mr Li said.
Dr Bredy said this was the first comprehensive analysis of how fear extinction was influenced by modifying DNA.
€It highlights the adaptive significance of experience-dependent changes in the chromatin landscape in the adult brain,€ he said.
The collaborative research is being done by a team from QBI, the University of California, Irvine, and Harvard University.
Alzheimer's May Be Reversible: Researchers Restore Lost Memory In Mice
Alzheimer's disease is a fatal degenerative disease. Its diagnosis is heartbreaking for both the patient and their family. In a new study, however, a group of scientists in Spain have successfully used gene therapy to reverse memory loss in mice with early stages of Alzheimer's. This discovery could potentially lead to the development of drugs that can be used to treat the condition.
A team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona put Crtc1, a gene which causes the production of a protein normally blocked in patients with Alzheimer's, into the brains of mice. The gene was injected into the mice's hippocampus, the region of the brain associated with memory processing. €The protein that was reinstated by the gene therapy triggers the signals needed to activate the genes involved in long-term memory consolidation,€ the university explained in a statement, according to The Huffington Post.
Results showed that the protein restored through the gene therapy allowed for the activation of genes involved in long-term memory consolidation. The researchers found that alterations of the Crtc1 gene lead to the initial stages of Alzheimer's disease. In individuals with this condition, plaque forms and prevents the Crtc1 protein from functioning properly. €When the Crtc1 protein is altered, the genes responsible for the synapsis, or connections between neurons in the hippocampus, cannot be activated and the individual cannot perform memory tasks correctly,€ explained lead researcher Carolos Saura, to Business Standard.
The study's finding could help in the development of drugs designed to target and activate these genes in humans. This would allow for the recovery of memory and essentially cure Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. It affects one in nine people aged 65 and older, and there are an estimated 5.2 million Americans of all ages living with the disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. By 2015 the number of Americans living with Alzheimer's is expected to reach 7.1 million, and by 2050 the number is estimated to rise to 13.8 million €" unless there is a medical breakthrough. These high numbers are due to longer life expectancies and aging baby boomers.
Researchers Uncover The Link Between Memory And Smell
Scents and smells can form the basis of some of the most significant memories humans form in their lives.
A University of Queensland-led international team has boosted understanding of the smell-memory connection, showing that olfactory memory in honeybees regulates receptors in their antennae.
Bees' antennae function like a human nose, say Queensland Brain Institute scientists Dr Judith Reinhard and Associate Professor Charles Claudianos.
€French novelist Marcel Proust in his novel Remembrance of Things Past (also known as In Search of Lost Time) described how his childhood memories started to flow when he tasted a madeleine cake dipped in linden tea, as he had been given as a child,€ Dr Reinhard said.
€Our team found that odour memories trigger recall of associated events, and that long-term odour memory formation in the brain regulates the sense of smell in the €nose' via regulating the receptor molecules.
€Preferences for different foods and beverages are linked to our sense of smell, and our research shows that long-term scent memories modify how odors are perceived. The study demonstrates for the first time that the ability to smell different things is experience-dependent and modulated by scent conditioning.
€In a nutshell: our smell experiences shape our preferences.€
Dr Claudianos said the findings could help explain the wide variability of smell perception in humans and the neurological mechanism underlying the common phenomenon of €acquired taste€, where repeated sensory experience with a flavour or aroma leads to perceptual changes.
€This knowledge will provide an enormous insight for understanding food and aroma perception,€ he said. €The discovery may also provide a means to detect early problems with memory formation and memory retrieval in the brain.€
Individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia or neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease often have an altered sense of smell perception.
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