Should scientists be able to prevent memory formation? If you could have one of your memories erased, would you? Do you think that there is a place for this in a clinical setting? What about victims of rape and other crimes or soldiers with PTSD? Where do we draw the line?
Due to a recent discovery in a study by Madroñal et al., these are questions that we now need to ask ourselves. Their experiment hoped to bring to light the role that the dentate gyrus (DG), a region of the brain within the hippocampus, was thought to play in memory recall. Through their research they discovered that the dentate gyrus played a different, unexpected role. The scientists discovered that “inhibition of DG is associated with a rapid and persistent loss of memory.”
In a normally functioning brain, information received by the brain is relayed through the dentate gyrus to another region of the hippocampus, the CA3, where it is encoded. This information can then be retrieved as a memory through Schaffer collateral projections that link the CA3 to another region, the CA1. However, if the dentate gyrus is inhibited (Madroñal et al. used a specific serotonin receptor agonist) the information cannot be relayed to the CA3 and the memory is lost.
Based on this finding, the researchers concluded that, “our findings demonstrating generalization of DG inhibition-induced memory loss across tasks coupled with our identification of an endogenous pharmacological target that can induce similar memory loss raise the possibility that the novel memory mechanism we have uncovered may be useful for erasing unwanted memories in a clinical setting.”
Moving from blocking the formation of memories to erasing memories that have already formed may be quite a leap, but there is potential for it and the clinical applications would be numerous. A person with anxiety because of the traumatic experience he had in fifth grade could forget it and potentially lessen the anxiety. A victim of rape could forget about the experience completely and hopefully move on. A soldier with PTSD could live the rest of his life without memories of the horrors of war.
It is still unknown if these things are possible, but further research on the subject could reveal ways for it to happen. It would be a controversial treatment that could involve surgery or drug administration; however, the benefits have the potential to significantly outweigh the risks. It will be interesting to see what other discoveries will surface in the coming years.
As scientific research uncovers more about the inner workings of the brain and the rest of the body, we will encounter more ethical dilemmas like this one. Current and future physicians and policy makers will have to make some decisions on controversial matters that will change medicine.
Erasing Memory as Potential Treatment for Anxiety and PTSD
