[LINK] "Snails on Meth Have Sharper Memories"

[rfmcdonald]

"Blink," I say, "blink."

During the experiment, Sorg and colleagues put aquatic snails in tanks, some of which contained meth-laced water, and some that that contained regular water. As aquatic creatures, the snails breathe mostly through their skins, but will extend air tubes above the water's surface when oxygen is scarce.

Low-oxygen levels in the water caused the snails to extend their tubes. The researchers poked the tubes with sticks, irritating the animals, thus training them not to extend their tubes.

Snails not exposed to meth seemed to retain long-term memories of the "training" for only a few hours, at which point they would start raising their tubes again.

But snails exposed to meth recalled the poking more than 24 hours later and kept their tubes closed.

It isn't a total surprise that such "meth memories" persist, said Sorg, whose research appeared May 28 in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

"Amphetamines are given to humans for the purpose of focusing attention," she explained. "Ritalin, for example, is an amphetamine derivative given for treatment of ADHD."

Sorg goes on to suggestion that this research, depending on snail brains though it might, could help provide useful information on treating addictions among human beings.