Ketamine against alcoholism
Scientists rewrote memories to cure alcoholism
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
The researchers activated the reward system of volunteers and injected them with ketamine. A few months later, the subjects reported a significant decrease in cravings for alcohol. The authors see great prospects for such therapy.
Ketamine has long been used as an analgesic, but today it is increasingly being considered as a promising antidepressant. And researchers from University College London offers to treat addictions, including alcoholism, with its help. As noted in the press release One shot of ketamine could reduce the problem of drinking, in fact, we are talking about rewriting memories.
Article by Das et al. Ketamine can reduce harmful drinking by pharmacologically rewriting drinking memories published in the journal Nature Communications – VM.
Based on previous work on the treatment of alcoholism with ketamine, scientists have suggested that this substance can change the functioning of the reward system in the brain.
To do this, it must be entered at a certain moment – when the memory of the reward is activated.
To test this idea, the team recruited 90 volunteers who abuse alcohol, but do not have a diagnosis of "alcoholism". The researchers gave them a glass of beer, showed them binge-related images and asked them to rate the expected pleasure. However, before the subjects had time to drain their glasses, the beer was taken away from them. According to the scientists, this was supposed to activate the memories of the reward and break the association between them and drinking.
To enhance the effect, a third of the participants in the experiment received a dose of ketamine at the same time. Another third were given a placebo, and a third of the volunteers took ketamine without first activating the reward system.
The results demonstrated that the combination of ketamine with memory activation really reduces cravings for alcohol.
The effect persisted throughout the nine months of observation after the experiment. Interestingly, participants from the group who received ketamine without prior activation of memories also reported that they began to drink less, but among them the results were not so impressive.
The researchers warn that this work is just a proof of concept, not rigorous clinical trials.
Some colleagues criticize the design of the experiment: since its participants had different levels of alcohol consumption, this could affect the final results. To verify the validity of the conclusions, it is necessary to reproduce the study, as well as confirm that ketamine affects the reward system. If successful, the new approach can become a powerful tool in the fight against alcoholism and other addictions.
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