Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Total Recall, the Borne Identity, Men in Black, etc. Hollywood seems obsessed with the idea of being able to erase people memories. Well, the concept may no longer be science fiction. My research involves erasing memories, at least in rats, for now. Roughly 40% to 60% of people who get treatment for substance use disorder have a relapse. Relapse is often caused by exposure to drug-associated cues that trigger a chemical response in the brain, which ultimately leads to cravings. One potential way to reduce relapse would be to erase the memory of drug-associated cues.
This year, I, along with two students, flew over to the Windy City, Chicago, to attend the 53rd annual Society for Neuroscience (SfN) conference. SfN is the world’s largest conference of neuroscientists that brings scientists from all over the world to discuss the latest findings in brain science. This year’s meeting was held from October 5-9 at the beautiful McCormick Place Convention Center in downtown Chicago. This five-day conference consisted of symposia, mini-symposia, roundtable discussions, posters presentation sessions, professional development workshops, and special lectures from distinguished neuroscientists.
At the conference, my two graduate school-bound students, Harriet Kubalsky and Marina Rose, presented our research, which examined the role of specific glutamate and adrenergic receptors in interfering with the re-stabilization of previously acquired drug-associated cues. Our study found that rats administered a glutamate receptor blocker after exposure to a methamphetamine-paired compartment disrupted drug-seeking behavior. However, rats administered with an adrenergic receptor blocker continued to display drug-seeking behavior. Our results demonstrated that the NMDA glutamate receptor plays an essential role in the re-stabilization of drug-associated memories and that blocking these receptors permanently interferes with these memories, attenuating drug-seeking behavior. The adrenergic system, however, does not play a role in the restabilization of drug-associated memories.
Both Harriet and Marina had the chance to present our data to experts in the field. During the poster session, both students beautifully articulate the results and implications of the studies as well as some limitations. The students wonderfully fielded difficult questions from seasoned neuroscientists and graduate students. Equally as important, the students also got to hear from other neuroscientists and graduate students doing work in similar and other areas of neuroscience. As both Marina and Harriet plan to get their Ph.D., they took advantage of exploring and learning about the different areas in neuroscience. In addition, Marina and Harriet were able to visit the Graduate School Fair and learn about various scholarships and school programs, including MD/PhD programs.
For myself, I was hopping from one poster to one poster, gaining new information to add to the various neurobiology classes I teach, including Neuropharmacology and the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory. I also learned about several other potential compounds that were being examined for their potential to interfere with memories, including ketamine, arachidonic acid, and protein kinase Mzeta. In addition, several posters examined the effects of various hormones on enhancing memory formation. For all three of us, the conference was both invaluable and, well, unforgettable.