Researchers Learn How to Reverse Dementia With Enzymes

Working with a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science and the SUNY Downstate Medical Center have learned how to promote and suppress long-term memories in rats using an enzyme called kinase M zeta.

Kinase M zeta is already known for maintaining long-term memories in the brain. This 5 year long experiment represents the very first attempts to use this in a therapeutic fashion. According to the article, the enzyme looks extremely promising because, unlike other memory treatments, the enzyme isn't dependent upon exploiting time windows between when a short-term memory becomes long-term. The enzyme will work at any time. 

The researchers used a virus to infect rat brain cells with an enzyme producing gene. 

“This pivotal mechanism could become a target for treatments to help manage debilitating emotional memories in anxiety disorders, and for enhancing faltering memories in disorders of aging,” said NIMH Director Dr. Thomas Insel.