Scientists have found specialized brain cells that appear to control anxiety levels. The finding could eventually lead to better treatments for anxiety disorders, which affect nearly 1 in 5 adults in the US.
Anxiety disorders involve excessive worry that doesn’t go away. These disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social anxiety disorder. The research, published in science journal Neuron, found that scientists could control the activity of the brains cells of anxious mice.
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The current therapies for this disorder has significant drawbacks. The researchers found that the brain cells that were the source of the anxious behavior could be turned on and off. Though the research is at an early stage and lab findings in animals don’t always pan out in humans, this discovery is an example of the “tremendous progress” scientists have made toward understanding how anxiety works in the brain.
A team including several researchers from Columbia University discovered the cells in the hippocampus, an area of the brain known to be involved in anxiety as well as navigation and memory.
They did it by studying some anxious mice, Mazen Kheirbek, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco and an author of the study says. “Mice tend to be afraid of open places,” he says. So the team put mice in a maze in which some pathways led to open areas. Then the researchers monitored the activity of brain cells at the very bottom of the hippocampus.
“And what we found is that these cells became more active whenever the animal went into an area that elicits anxiety,” Kheirbek says.
And they need to because anxiety disorders are incredibly prevalent and tend to hit in the prime working years of life. However, there are not sure-shot treatments for it. It is sometimes regarded as a lifestyle issue and sometimes as a mental health issue.
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