We're still characterizing a lot of things about them, and we're finding out new things about them all the time. But in addition to this learning and memory, we studied their neuronal circuitry. And even though that might not be the same thing as looking at the animals' behaving and learning a task, from a scientific standpoint, understanding how the neuronal circuitry is able to adapt and change is an area where a lot of neuroscientists want to understand the basis of learning and memory. And what we found was an equally amazing finding, was the adaptability of their neuronal circuitry. That they were able to, synaptic connections were much more malleable in these knockout mice than they were in a normal animal.
How does this research apply to drug development?
In studying these behaviors as well as studying the neuronal circuitry, we also studied the protein biochemistry that is involved in mediating these changes. And we found some new mechanisms, and perhaps the most exciting part of these studies is that these mechanisms will serve as important targets for the development of new research, as well as new drugs to perhaps treat problems with cognitive disorders.
And in many cases, cognitive disorders are associated with neuro-degeneration such as Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. And certainly these new mechanisms will serve as important drug targets for the treatment of these disorders. We think that these new mechanisms may be important with regard, and the fact they apply to flexibility, may make them more important to more subtle disorders in learning, such as those that we're encountering with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, drug addiction and depression. We think these new findings hold a lot of promise for trying to develop better treatments for these sorts of disorders.
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