Pitch & Partner 2020: Basic Research Edition | Competitor | Jereme Wingert, Research Assistant, Legacy Research Institute, Increasing Neuroplasticity to Reduce Drug-Addiction Memories
Cocaine use creates strong memories about the drug which become inflexible and rigid, making it difficult to quit and increasing the likelihood of relapse. Perineuronal nets are tiny brain “nets” that wrap around certain brain cells (neurons) to make memories strong and rigid. It’s been shown that cocaine addiction in rats increases the intensity, or strength, of perineuronal nets in the prefrontal cortex of rats. Strengthening these nets makes it hard to disrupt the cocaine memory. Fortunately, the nets can be disrupted, which restores brain plasticity to the prefrontal cortex. Then, while these neurons are still highly plastic and malleable, the neurons can be forced that contribute to cocaine memories to rewrite themselves by a process called memory updating. In this way, cocaine addiction can be effectively decrease in our rat models. Future studies may use a similar strategy in humans.
