Can Fear Mechanisms Aid in the Formulation of Anxiety-reducing Drugs?

Brain networks responsible for anxiety and fear behaviors like "freezing," have been identified by neuroscientists at the University of Bristol, published in the journal eLife. The study thereby offers a potential new drug target for treating anxiety and psychological disorders, which affect an estimated 264-million people worldwide.

It is found that the periaqueductal grey (PAG) area in the hindbrain (cerebellum) remains a prime area involved in fear-evoked coping responses like freezing by encoding a fear memory.

The study also showed that the manipulation of a direct cerebellar-PAG pathway also caused impairments in fear-conditioned freezing and ultrasonic vocalizations.

"Until now, little was understood about how the cerebellum modulates neuronal activity in other brain regions, especially those related to fear and anxiety. Importantly, our results show that the cerebellum is part of the brain’s survival network that regulates fear memory processes at multiple timescales and in multiple ways; raising the possibility that dysfunctional interactions in the brain’s cerebellar-survival network may underlie fear-related disorders and comorbidities," says the study’s lead authors, Charlotte Lawrenson and Elena Paci.



Source-Medindia