GONE WITH A PILL

London, June 04: Imagine popping a pill to erase painful memories after a break-up or a traumatic mishap. Your imagination may soon turn into reality, thanks to scientists who claim to have moved a step closer to developing such drug. An international team, led by the University of Puerto Rico, has discovered a drug that helps numb the pain of bad memories by flooding the mind with feelings of security and safety. In laboratory tests, the scientists harnessed effects of a natural chemical which works on the brain to reduce fear and anxiety. They gave laboratory rodents a protein known as called Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor to help them relearn painful association from stressful situations. Their study showed how BDNF can work in a similar way to a psychological technique called extinction training in which phobia sufferers are repeatedly exposed to the source of their fears to help them overcome them. Eventually the brain is "rewired" to overwrite painful associations from stressful situations in the past, though it doesn't extinguish them fully, the British media reported. In fact, the scientists created stress "triggers" in rats by giving them small electric shocks which loud music was played. They came to associate the music with the pain and froze when they heard it. But the effect was reversed when they were given doses of BDNF. "The surprising finding here is that the drug substituted for extinction training," Dr Gregory Quirk, who led the investigation, said. Added Dr Thomas Insel of the US National Institute of Mental Health, which funded the study: "This work supports the idea that medications could be developed to augment effects of BDNF, providing opportunities for pharmaceutical treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders." The findings have been published in the latest edition of the 'Science' journal.