Anxiety Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Anxiety, including details on anxiety disorder, panic attacks, medication, counselling, therapy.

Amygdala circuitry mediating reversible and bidirectional control of anxiety.

Tye KM, Prakash R, Kim SY, Fenno LE, Grosenick L, Zarabi H, Thompson KR, Gradinaru V, Ramakrishnan C, Deisseroth K

Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Anxiety--a sustained state of heightened apprehension in the absence of immediate threat--becomes severely debilitating in disease states. Anxiety disorders represent the most common of psychiatric diseases (28% lifetime prevalence) and contribute to the aetiology of major depression and substance abuse. Although it has been proposed that the amygdala, a brain region important for emotional processing, has a role in anxiety, the neural mechanisms that control anxiety remain unclear. Here we explore the neural circuits underlying anxiety-related behaviours by using optogenetics with two-photon microscopy, anxiety assays in freely moving mice, and electrophysiology. With the capability of optogenetics to control not only cell types but also specific connections between cells, we observed that temporally precise optogenetic stimulation of basolateral amygdala (BLA) terminals in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA)--achieved by viral transduction of the BLA with a codon-optimized channelrhodopsin followed by restricted illumination in the downstream CeA--exerted an acute, reversible anxiolytic effect. Conversely, selective optogenetic inhibition of the same projection with a third-generation halorhodopsin (eNpHR3.0) increased anxiety-related behaviours. Importantly, these effects were not observed with direct optogenetic control of BLA somata, possibly owing to recruitment of antagonistic downstream structures. Together, these results implicate specific BLA-CeA projections as critical circuit elements for acute anxiety control in the mammalian brain, and demonstrate the importance of optogenetically targeting defined projections, beyond simply targeting cell types, in the study of circuit function relevant to neuropsychiatric disease.

Published 17 March 2011 in Nature, 471(7338): 358-62.
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Articles on Anxiety published 17 March 2011:

Amygdala circuitry mediating reversible and bidirectional control of anxiety.   Nature, 471(7338): 358-62.

Anxiety--a sustained state of heightened apprehension in the absence of immediate threat--becomes severely debilitating in disease states. Anxiety disorders represent the most common of psychiatric diseases (28% lifetime prevalence) and contribute to the aetiology of major depression and substance abuse. Although it has been proposed that the amygdala, a brain region important for emotional processing, has a role in anxiety, the neural mechanisms that control anxiety remain unclear. Here we ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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Articles on Anxiety published 17 February 2011:

Assessment of psychotropic-like properties of a probiotic formulation (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175) in rats and human subjects.   Br J Nutr, 105(5): 755-64.

In a previous clinical study, a probiotic formulation (PF) consisting of Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175 (PF) decreased stress-induced gastrointestinal discomfort. Emerging evidence of a role for gut microbiota on central nervous system functions therefore suggests that oral intake of probiotics may have beneficial consequences on mood and psychological distress. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anxiolytic-like activity of PF in rats, and its ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Anxiety published 2 February 2011:

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The Mendelian randomization approach exploits genetic variants to improve causal inference when using observational data. The authors examined the relation between long-term obesity and common mental disorders (CMD) by utilizing the known relation between fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) genotype and body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height (m)(2)). Data collection in 2,981 men and 1,164 women (mean age at baseline = 44 years) from the Whitehall II Study (London, United Kingdom) included 4 ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Anxiety published 1 February 2011:

The role of emotion regulation in auditory hallucinations.   Psychiatry Res, 185(3): 303-8.

Emotion regulation involves the use of strategies to influence the experience and expression of emotions. Anxiety and depression are strongly associated with the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, such as auditory hallucinations (AHs). Individuals usually try to down-regulate (decrease) such emotions, consequently abnormal or maladaptive use of one or more of these down-regulatory processes (e.g. increased use of expressive suppression or maladaptive attentional deployment, i.e. ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Anxiety published 31 January 2011:

Amygdalar orexinergic-GABAergic interactions regulate anxiety behaviors of the Syrian golden hamster.   Behav Brain Res, 218(2): 288-95.

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Memory of pain and anxiety associated with tooth extraction.   J Dent Res, 90(2): 220-4.

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Articles on Anxiety published 14 January 2011:

Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom.   Science, 331(6014): 211-3.

Two laboratory and two randomized field experiments tested a psychological intervention designed to improve students' scores on high-stakes exams and to increase our understanding of why pressure-filled exam situations undermine some students' performance. We expected that sitting for an important exam leads to worries about the situation and its consequences that undermine test performance. We tested whether having students write down their thoughts about an upcoming test could improve test ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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