A SPICE commonly used in curry could
help erase bad memories, according to a study.
Curcumin, a bright-yellow
compound found in the root of the Indian spice turmeric, prevented new fear
memories being stored in the brain, and also removed pre-existing fear
memories, researchers found.
It is hoped that the findings
will help develop treatments for people suffering with psychological disorders.
Psychologists from The City
University of New York trained rats to become scared when they heard a
particular sound. Scientists assumed the creatures were frightened when they
froze.
Hours later, when the same
sound was played to the rats, those who had been given ordinary food froze.
Yet the rats fed the
curcumin-rich diet didn’t freeze, suggesting their fearful memories had been
erased.
Professor Glenn Schafe, who
led the study, said: ‘This suggests that people suffering from post-traumatic
stress disorder and other psychological disorders that are characterised by
fearful memories may benefit substantially from a curcumin-enriched diet.’
Memories are formed in the
brain as new connections between neurons.
They are initially fragile,
but gradually stabilise in the brain as they are put into long-term storage – a
process known as consolidation.
When established memories are
recalled they also temporarily destabilise in the brain, becoming like new
memories for a while.
‘If nothing happens, those
destabilised fear memories get put back into long-term storage. In other words,
they restabilise, or reconsolidate,’ explained Professor Schafe.
‘But we’ve learned that we
can go into the brain during that destabilisation window and prevent those fear
memories from reconsolidating.
‘Effectively, we can erase them. And
that appears to be what we’ve done with a curcumin-enriched diet.’
Curcumin is known to have an
anti-inflammatory effect on the body, and this may be how it works on fearful
memories, said Professor Schafe.
‘Inflammatory processes have
been implicated in a wide range of diseases ranging from allergies to
cardiovascular disease to Alzheimer’s,’ he said.
‘Inflammation has also been
implicated in psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety and
post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘Some of these same
inflammatory pathways have also been implicated in memory formation, so it all
fits.
‘But we need more studies to
examine this further.’
It is not yet fully
understood how curcumin impairs fear memories while sparing other types of
memories, Professor Schafe said, but it is known that different types of memory
systems encode different types of memories.
So, the memory of the event
could still be there, but without the memory of the fear, removing the
frightening aspect of it.
Previous studies have found
that the spice may also be useful in the treatment of cancer, heart disease and
arthritis, as well as having an anti-depressant effect. Another recent
study found that a compound in turmeric may also hold the key to repairing the
brains of people suffering with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
Saving cells: Studies are
increasingly discovering the benefits of turmeric on the brain
Saving cells: Studies are
increasingly discovering the benefits of turmeric on the brain
In laboratory tests, the
aromatic turmerone promoted the proliferation of brain stem cells and their
development into neurons.
It is hoped that the findings
will help scientists develop treatments for conditions in which brain cells are
lost, including Alzheimer’s and stroke.
The scientists examined the
effect of aromatic turmerone on endogenous neutral stem cells (NSCs) found
within adult brains.
NSCs go on to develop into
neurons, and play an important role in recovery from neurodegenerative
diseases.
Lead researcher Dr Adele
Rueger, from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany,
said: ‘While several substances have been described to promote stem cell
proliferation in the brain, fewer drugs additionally promote the
differentiation of stem cells into neurons, which constitutes a major goal in
regenerative medicine.
‘Our findings on aromatic
turmerone take us one step closer to achieving this goal.’
Source: tribuneonlineng
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