According to a study, it is possible to factory reset your brain to get rid of various disorders

The brain is in control of most things in our body. This central organ is responsible for our moods, memories, thoughts and much more. Now a new study suggests it might be possible to factory reset your brain as if it were an iPhone and that it could help get rid of diseases like alcohol abuse and anxiety.

The study, published in the journal Science, focused on pinpointing the brain region responsible for the development of alcohol abuse and anxiety and showed how gene editing can erase or control people’s predisposition to these diseases.

University of Illinois researchers based this study on previous findings that linked adolescent binge drinking to altered brain chemistry, which could impact the way these people regulate their emotions, leading to a higher likelihood of anxiety or leads to alcohol abuse. The aim of their study was to use modern gene editing to find out whether these effects can be reversed.

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The study was conducted on rats exposed to alcohol in their youth. As the rats reached adulthood, the researchers measured their levels of anxiety and alcohol cravings by performing various tests, including maze experiments and choosing between different liquids.

The researchers stressed the importance of alcohol consumption in adolescents, which can later lead to alcohol abuse and, more worryingly, to psychiatric disorders. They found that those who drink alcohol during their youth have less of a protein known as Arc. The gene editing process is called CRISPR-d ​​Cas9 and consists of cutting out DNA and allowing it to replenish itself naturally.

“Binge drinking among adolescents is a serious public health problem, and this study not only helps us better understand what happens in developing brains when exposed to high levels of alcohol, but most importantly, gives us hope that we can Daytime effective treatments for this will have complex and multifaceted conditions such as anxiety and alcohol use disorders,” said study lead author Subhash Pandey. “That this effect was observed bidirectionally confirms the importance of the arc enhancer gene in the amygdala in epigenetic reprogramming by adolescent binge drinking.”

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The brain goes through significant changes as people go through puberty. It undergoes a complex rewiring and pruning of neurons, making it sensitive to external substances like alcohol and even cannabis.