Impaired memory reconsolidation or reduced alcohol consumption

A single dose of ketamine injected after extracting alcohol reward memory can destroy the reconsolidation of these memories, thus reducing the drinking level Ketamine can reduce harmful driving by pharmaceutically rewriting driving memories, a study of 90 subjects, was published in nature communications this week Reconsolidation is a process of memory retention, in which the reactivated long-term memory enters a transient state of instability, thus adding new information Once entering the unstable stage, memory will depend on N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) pathway for remodeling Drug interventions during reconsolidation (using NMDAR antagonists such as ketamine) may weaken nonadaptive reward memories, such as those associated with harmful drug use behaviors, the researchers believe Ravi DAS and colleagues at University College London want to determine whether ketamine can reduce drinking levels by weakening memories associated with excessive drinking The authors recruited 90 subjects with harmful drinking habits who were neither formally diagnosed with alcohol use disorders nor sought treatment (55 men and 35 women, average age 28) Subjects were shown a series of beer pictures to induce the extraction of nonadaptive reward memory related to alcohol, and then they were injected with ketamine (30 people) or normal saline (30 people) The authors also administered ketamine to another group of 30 subjects who had no memory retrieval At multiple follow-up points, subjects were asked to report their perceived changes in drinking behavior (alcohol consumption, enjoyment and craving) The authors found that ketamine injections after memory retrieval reduced the number of days and the amount of alcohol consumed per week in the group over the next nine months Compared with ketamine injection alone, the combination of memory extraction therapy can reduce drinking to a greater extent