Researchers find way to reduce alcoholism relapse by erasing specific memories

Israeli researchers have found a way to prevent relapse in alcoholism by blocking a molecule that activates the memories associated with drinking, therefore reducing the cravings for alcohol. So far, the study which began in 2010, has been tried successfully in rats but researcher Segev Barak from the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, was confident the study could be applied in humans. The researcher, who was part of the study led by Prof. Dorit Ron, also an Israeli, of the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco, published a paper in Nature Neuroscience that could help put a stop to the relapse, which affects 80 percent of rehabilitating alcoholics, by erasing the memories of the alcohol cravings. The study showed that when the rats were given the option between drinking water and low doses of alcohol, 60 percent pressed a level that provided them the latter one, and when the dosage increased, so did their dependence on the alcohol. "What we found is that when we gave them a 10-day period of abstinence and gave them certain memories of the alcohol, they triggered the need for this substance. We gave the rats a small amount of alcohol and then scanned their brain to see the reaction, and found that a protein called MPORC1 was activating the neurons in very specific areas of the brain," Barak told Xinhua on Monday. Thanks to this protein, that is implicated in the connection between the neurons, the researchers were able to see exactly which areas of the brain were involved, and were able to " disconnect" this protein in these specific parts of the brain. "We used a drug called Rapamycin that prevents the activation of the protein. Usually, when it comes to relapses, you have a window of opportunity of four to six hours to prevent the memory from becoming stable, from settling in, so by erasing the memory while it is still not 'hooked,' the brain does not remember it," Barak said, adding that the advantage is that no other memories are erased, since they can trace with complete assurance where the memories of the alcohol are. Rats that had been given Rapamycin were less likely to press the level that gave them alcohol, even after a two-week period after the researchers tried to tempt the rodents into relapsing. Barak, who continued the research at Tel Aviv University after finishing his post-doctorate with Prof. Ron in San Francisco, is now trying to spill this knowledge to prevent relapse through behavioral science. "Using our experience with the rats during my post-doctorate, I want to obtain the same results without using the drug, but rather a behavioral strategy, while studying the molecular mechanism of alcoholism," Barak said.