Compounds that could Thwart Post-Taumatic Stress Disorder.
A recently posted article in ScienceDaily, on Oct. 15, 2012, has given insight to a new set of compounds that may possibly reduce the long term effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on traumatized civilians and active military personnel. Professor Anantha Shekhar and colleagues at Indiana University have been conducting experiments on rats by way of what is called a "conditioned fear test". This is used to trigger the rat's brain to activate a chemical called NMDA, which in turn causes a protein reaction producing Nitrous Oxide. These two chemicals are scientifically proven to be vital in the successful formation of fearful memories. Based on their research Professor Shekhar and her colleagues have specified testing two small molecules known as IC87201 and ZL006 to disrupt such NMDA regulated Nitrous Oxide production, and by doing so potentially offer a way to prevent long term damage due to PTSD. If these compounds are further proven to stop long term damage from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder we could possibly see them being produced into a medicinal form and administered, within a couple hours prior to an event, to traumatized citizens and also military personnel immediatly following a combat incident.
I chose to read and review this article because I am currently a 68W Combat Medic in the United States Army and have trained in feild hospitals and also military hospitals here in our country. PTSD is always a great factor in screening soldiers who are returning home from deployment but often goes unnoticed and undocumented, left then to terrorize soldiers later in life and cause many other problems. I believe that if these compounds can be created and regulated they would provide a great deal of relief for soldiers who have undergone traumatic events and also their families. Many people who are effected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder may not know that they have it for a matter of time after the incident occurs, it could take days, months, or possibly years to effect that person. If these molecules can prevent this from happening without further damaging any parts of our body or creating worsened side effects it will be a great discovery for science both in the civilian and military sectors.
-Adrian Garrett
Personally, this was a great topic to write about. I was wondering how the military would pay for all of the soldiers to receive the injections? And would this discovery directly effect us as tax payers? Does the injections have any long term side effects? I commented on this article because my Father has PTSD from Desert Storm War. -Katelynn Shelby McCarthy
ReplyDeleteI would imagine the administering of this drug would directly impact the tax payer. Another thought to think about, the soldiers that are taken care of financially, where does that money come from? Would it be given in an injection or pill form? This discovery seems to only affect the immediate moments after a traumatic experience to PREVENT PTSD, would it have the same effects if given to an individual who has the disorder currently and given in a pill form?
ReplyDelete^^^Nikkole Stehl
ReplyDeleteI would think that this will come out of tax payers money like everything else does. They probably will find that in some people there can be a long term side effect because not everyone handles drugs the same way. So this my not help everyone. I think what they should be focused on is what if they give this drug to someone and it does not help or cure them but in fact makes them worst then what they were. Amanda Dollman
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