There is a movie that showed a couple who chose to have their memories erased, but before doing that, they had it all taped so that they can have access to it in the future. Many people are curious to know if this was possible, and according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the answer is yes.
The new study revealed that lost memories from Alzheimer's can be retrieved by stimulating nerve cells to grow new connections. The Guardian reported that the research was first tested in mice with Alzheimer's-like symptoms. This raises the possibility that future treatments can combat memory loss in the earliest stage of the disease. Scientists used a method called optogenetics which utilizes light to activate cells tagged with a photo-sensitive protein.
The treatment helped neurons grow small buds called dendritic spines which formed synaptic connections with other cells. Even though the techniques can't be used in humans, the research leads the way to future memory-retrieving therapies, the researchers claimed.
Scientists have found that patients have a hard time recalling recent memories and experiences as the disease progresses. According to the authors of the study, most studies aim to understand the relationship between memory impairment and the formation of plaques and proteins that signify Alzheimer's disease. However, according to Medical Daily, when talking about the onset of the disease, health experts are still unsure if the memory loss is caused by actual memory impairment or a decreased ability to recalled stored memory.
The study's lead author Dheeraj Roy, an MIT graduate student explained in the statement that a short-term memory may be normal on the order of hours, however when it comes to long-term memory, it seems to be impaired.
Roy, together with his colleagues activated the engrams with the light in healthy mice, which were the test subjects. The mice with Alzheimer's like symptoms showed fear when their cells were activated, which revealed them having fewer dendritic spines.
"Directly activating the cells that we believe are holding the memory gets them to retrieve it," Roy said. "This suggests that it is indeed an access problem to the information, not that they're unable to learn or store this memory."
Lead scientist Prof Susumu Tonegawa, from the Picower institute for learning and memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S., said: "The important point is, this a proof of concept. That is, even if a memory seems to be gone, it is still there. It's a matter of how to retrieve it."
