Where does your uneasiness come from? Brain cells that control anxiety have been found. Neuron paper recommendations.

We don't always feel safe, but one day humans will be able to do that.
a recent study found the neural basis of anxiety in the brain, where the cells that control anxiety are located in the hippocampus, which not only regulates anxiety behavior, but is also controlled by light.
the discovery is now confirmed in experimental mice and could offer a glimmer of hope for millions of people with anxiety conditions around the world, including nearly one in five adults in the United States.
the next step for researchers will be to invent new drugs to suppress these anxiety-controlled neurons. "We wanted to understand where the emotional information that translates to anxiety was encoded in the brain," said Mazen Kheirbek, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco,
.
"Looking for anxious cells to find out, the team used "calcium imaging" technology to insert micromicroscopes into the brains of the mice to record neuronal activity in the hippocampus as the animals moved around their cages.
of course, these are not ordinary cages.
researchers have built special mazes, some of which lead to open spaces and elevated platforms.
people have known that exposed environments can make mice anxious because they are more vulnerable to predators.
some things changed in their brains when the mice left the walls that provided security.
the researchers observed that cells in the abdominal hippocampus vCA1 region became active, and the more anxious the mice were, the more active the neurons were. "We call these cells anxiety cells because they are active only when animals are born to be afraid," explains Rene Hen, a senior researcher at Columbia University at the
.
" researchers tracked the cells' signals all the way to the hypothalamus, a brain region that regulates the hormones that control mood.
this not only occurs in anxiety-inducing mouse maze experiments, but also in humans.
, the researchers speculate that anxiety neurons may also be part of human physiology. Jessica Jimenez, a neurosurgeon at Columbia University School of Medicine at
, said: "We have found these cells in the hippocampus, opening up new frontiers in our exploration of previously unknown treatments.
" More exciting about controlling anxiety is that we've found ways to control these anxiety cells, at least in mice.
to some extent, this approach can alter the observable behavior of animals.
researchers used optogenetics to irradiate a beam of light onto cells in the vCA1 region.
they were able to effectively silence anxiety cells and stimulate confident, anxiety-free activities in mice. "If we lower the activity of anxiety cells, animals do become less anxious, "
.
they even become more eager to explore areas of the maze without walls.
," Cherbeck said.
this control switch is not just one-way regulation.
by changing the setting of light, the researchers were also able to increase the activity of anxious cells, allowing animals to tremble even if they safely perched in a walled, closed environment.
, of course, does not mean that the team identified vCA1 as the only region associated with brain anxiety.
"These cells may be just part of the neural loop in animals that handle anxiety-related information,", "Cherbeck said, stressing that they would also study other nerve cells further.
anyway, the next step will be to find out if the control switch can regulate human anxiety.
based on our understanding of the similarities between the human and mouse brains, this should be reasonable.
if this conclusion is confirmed, the findings could open a new path to the treatment of various anxiety symptoms. "We have a goal,"
, " Chylbeck explained in an interview with The Mercury News. "
" the study was published in Neuron.
paper link: sic:Source:Peter Dockrill