Researchers from the University of Cambridge have found evidence that "erasing" drug-related memories may help recovered drug abusers avoid relapsing. The study showed reduced drug-seeking behaviors in rats by blocking a chemical brain receptor related to memory. Blocking the receptor during drug-related recall seemed to prevent relapse.

Memories exist in different states depending on whether they are being recalled or not. When memories are recalled, they become "unstable" or malleable and can be altered or erased during the process called reconsolidation. Because relapse by drug abusers is often prompted when they recall drug-associated memories, the scientists found that by blocking these memories they could prevent relapse.

Professor Barry Everitt, an author on the study, commented:

"The results suggest that efforts should be made to develop drugs that could be given in a controlled clinical or treatment environment in which addicts would have their most potent drug memories reactivated. Such treatments would be expected to diminish the effects of those memories in the future and help individuals resist relapse and maintain their abstinence."

(Sources: sciencedaily.com)

Labels: behaviors, relapse, memory

Posted By: Aspen Education Group