Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have successfully transferred memory from one sea snail to another. A scientific feat that gives hope for treating neurodegenerative diseases, in the long term, in humans.
You have surely happened to recall a memory to someone who does not remember it. A moment when you would like to transfer your memory to the other. If it seems impossible to do, American researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have taken a first step in this direction. On Monday May 14, they announced successfully transferring memories from one sea snail to another. The results of the study are published in the journal in Euro.
Electrical stimulation to create memories
Obviously, snails don’t have as many memories as we do. But to create them, the researchers split a group of these gastropods into two. The memory of the first group was stimulated by receiving weak electric shocks on the tail. This, in order to create a defensive reflex.
Then the scientists extracted theribonucleic acid (RNA) from the nervous system of the snails of the first group, to transfer them to those of the second group. Ribonucleic acid is an essential link in the synthesis of proteins, but also in the transport of genetic messages.
“Twenty-four hours later, we tested the reflexes of these snails: they had the same defense reflex as those to whom we had administered electric shocks”, relates David L. Glanzmann, one of the main authors of study and member of the Integrative Biology and Physiology Department at UCLA.
What about humans?
Obviously, it would take years, if not decades, to see this technique applied to humans. The nervous system of the snail, and in particular of the sea snail, is much less complex than ours.
But these results still give hope to researchers, especially in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. “If we could identify the part of ribonucleic acid that allows memories to form, we could find more effective treatments for dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer’s disease,” continues David L. Glanzmann.
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