Posted on 07/16/2007 10:23:27 AM PDT by atomic_dog
MIT biochemists have identified a molecular mechanism behind fear, and successfully cured it in mice, according to an article in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory hope that their work could lead to the first drug to treat the millions of adults who suffer each year from persistent, debilitating fears - including hundreds of soldiers returning from conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Inhibiting a kinase, an enzyme that change proteins, called Cdk5 facilitates the extinction of fear learned in a particular context, Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and colleagues showed.
Conversely, the learned fear persisted when the kinase's activity was increased in the hippocampus, the brain's center for storing memories, the scientists found.
Cdk5, paired with the protein p35, helps new brain cells, or neurons, form and migrate to their correct positions during early brain development, and the MIT researchers looked at how Cdk5 affects the ability to form and eliminate fear-related memories.
"Remarkably, inhibiting Cdk5 facilitated extinction of learned fear in mice," Tsai said. "This data points to a promising therapeutic avenue to treat emotional disorders and raises hope for patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or phobia."
Emotional disorders such as post-traumatic stress and panic attacks stem from the inability of the brain to stop experiencing the fear associated with a specific incident or series of incidents.
For some people, upsetting memories of traumatic events do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time, severely affecting their lives.
A study conducted by the Army in 2004 found that one in eight soldiers returning from Iraq reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
According to the National Center for PTSD in the United States, around eight percent of the population will have PTSD symptoms at some point in their lives. Some 5.2 million adults have PTSD during a given year, the center reports.
In the current research, genetically engineered mice received mild foot shocks in a certain environment and were re-exposed to the same environment without the foot shock.
The team found that mice with increased levels of Cdk5 activity had more trouble letting go of the memory of the foot shock and continued to freeze in fear.
The reverse was also true: in mice whose Cdk5 activity was inhibited, the bad memory of the shocks disappeared when the mice learned that they no longer needed to fear the environment where the foot shocks had once occurred.
"In our study, we employ mice to show that extinction of learned fear depends on counteracting components of a molecular pathway involving the protein kinase Cdk5," Tsai concluded. "We found that Cdk5 activity prevents extinction, at least in part by negatively affecting the activity of another key kinase."
As a consequence, pedestrian deaths are going to skyrocket.
More like robot soldiers.
Maybe the kid on his loud four-wheeler can overcome his fear of riding in traffic.
Fear, both justified and not.
I’ll keep my fear, thanks. I’d rather remain a human being with choices and consequences, a moral or an immoral person.
Stop voting Democrat?..........
What if you’re afraid of taking drugs?
Are samples ready for Republican politicians?
I didn’t read the article. I just wanted to point out that there’s probably a great Chuck Norris joke in here somewhere.
Puts a whole new meaning on the NO FEAR decals rednecks love to wear.
One stands in awe of such impartial reportage.
From what the returning soldiers I know have told me, their greatest fear upon returning to the US is the completely rational fear of being plagued by idiots wasting their time.
There's a whole pile of jokes in there but I read in the article that it might help combat veterans with PTSD so I decided to pass on the jokes and watch for further developments.
I will not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain...
Unfortunately the side-effects of treatment include diffuse dread, apprehension, anxiety, doubt, panic, horror and terror.
I thought FDR was working on a cure for this during WWII?
More like robot soldiers.One of the stories in this book: The Solaris Book of new Science Fiction.
A story by the title of: Third Person, by Tony Ballantyne.
Excellent speculation of a drug that turns normal people into absolutely fearless combatants, in a very non-Rambo way. I highly recommend it.
ping
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