Postdoctoral research reveals that modulation of a group of brain enzymes is capable of facilitating the process of extinguishing fear memories.

Frequent recall of memories of fear can trigger a set of physical, psychological and emotional symptoms that cause pain and suffering to the individual. In Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and in several other anxiety disorders, the above manifestations become so recurrent as to hinder or even prevent the individual from having a normal life. Since the pharmacological treatment for the above clinical conditions includes drugs whose effectiveness is minimal and limited, the current standard treatment consists of what is called exposure therapy, a behavioral technique based on the extinction of fear memories. This process consists of inhibiting the recall of a previously stored memory, however, not all patients are successful with this therapy.

In the search for pharmacological alternatives capable of potentiating the extinction of fear memories, the study in question demonstrated that the activation of carbonic anhydrases is capable of facilitating this process. This group of enzymes has a fundamental role in several physiological processes, being widely distributed in brain regions essential for the processing of memory. The research findings demonstrate that activators of carbonic anhydrase enzymes are potential targets for the future development of drugs capable of facilitating the extinction of memories of fear and, thus, assisting in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders.

The research was developed through international collaboration between PUCRS and Università degli Studi di Firenze, in Italy. His findings, which are extremely relevant to the field of neuroscience, have just been published in the renowned journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of United States of America.

The study was developed by the postdoctoral fellow of the Graduate Program in Biomedical Gerontology, Drª Scheila Daiane Schmidt, researcher at the Memory Center of the Brain Institute of RS, PUCRS, who was in Italy to carry out part of the behavioral and biochemical experiments. The study had the collaboration of the Professors of the Medical School Dr. Ivan Izquierdo, Drª Jociane de Carvalho Myskiw and Drª Cristiane Regina Guerino Furini, in addition to the help of the doctoral student in Biomedical Gerontology, Eduarda Godfried Nachtigall, and the researchers from the Memory Center. < / p>