May 17, 2018.
An experiment on snails showed that memory could be transferred from one individual to another. This study could offer a new opportunity to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
Snail study reveals how memory works
What if memory could be taken, stored, and then injected into someone else? This is the conclusion reached by American researchers who, thanks to their latest study, are resuscitating the ambitions of scientists who have started working on the subject since the 1960s. Biologists from Ucla University in the United States have just demonstrated how, thanks to ribonucleic acid (RNA), it is now possible to revive memory.
To reach this conclusion, these biologists conducted an experiment on sea snails. A first group of these crustaceans was subjected to light electric shocks in order to stimulate a defense reflex in them.. At the end of this experiment, these snails showed a defensive contraction of 50 seconds, against only 1 second for the second control group.
Will RNA Cure Alzheimer’s Disease?
Then the researchers then took RNA from these trained snails, in order to inject it into the body of other crustaceans. They were then subjected to the same electric shocks and showed, from the first experience, a defensive reflex which resulted in a muscle contraction of 40 seconds, as if they had been trained.
Research on RNA still needs to be deepened before we can see the possibilities that this discovery offers for medicine.. But the researchers are already optimistic and hope that RNA will offer a new field of research against pathologies like Alzheimer’s disease.
Gaelle Latour
See also How to stimulate your memory?