14 DAY TRIAL // In a study published earlier this week in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, a team of scientists with the University of Leeds in the UK and their colleagues at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Canada detail how, in a series of laboratory experiments, they managed to genetically engineer genius mice.
Not genius enough to read the name of the journal the study was published in without feeling their neurons twisting into knots inside their brains, but pretty smart nonetheless.
Messing with just one gene was all it took
In the report describing their work, the researchers explain that, to turn regular mice into super-brainy ones, all they did was alter a single gene.
This gene that the scientists toyed with has previously been shown to exercise control over the activity of an enzyme dubbed phosphodiesterase-4B (PDE4B, for short).
The team altered it so as to inhibit the activity of the enzyme under its control. As a result of this simple shift, the mice displayed cognitive abilities above their species.
For starters, they had an easier time learning new tricks. Besides, they could remember specific events longer and would solve complex tasks faster than their ordinary peers.
“The ‘brainy mice’ showed a better ability than ordinary mice to recognise another mouse that they had been introduced to the day before,” the researchers explain
“They were also quicker at learning the location of a hidden escape platform in a test called the Morris water maze,” they further detail the behavior of these brainy mice.
What's interesting is that, enhanced cognitive abilities aside, these laboratory-made smart mice were found to have trouble recalling fearful occurrences and displayed less anxiety.
Thus, the scientists say they would spend more time in bright, open spaces. By comparison, run-of-the- mill rodents of this species prefer closed, dark dwellings.
Why genetically-engineer genius mice?
The enzyme that when inhibited made these mice smarter and less fearful or anxious is also found in other vertebrates, humans included.
Since blocking its activity was shown to correlate with enhanced cognitive abilities and even reduced anxiety in this study, the researchers wonder whether it might not be possible to tweak it to obtain similar effects in people.
More precisely, they suspect it might be possible to target this enzyme in an attempt to address conditions such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, anxiety and other similar disorders.
“In the future, medicines targeting PDE4B may potentially improve the lives of individuals with neurocognitive disorders and life-impairing anxiety,” explains researcher Alexander McGirr.
Of course, further investigations into the exact effects of PD44B are needed before scientists can move on to trying to control the activity of this enzyme in the human body in order to improve memory or reduce anxiety.