Physical Source of Anxiety in Mice's Brain, Located by Scientists

(Photo: Gino Crescoli )

People get to experience different kinds of emotions. It may be happy, sad, a mixture of both anger and fear. Fears do not only refer to monsters and other shocking phenomena that science cannot seem to comprehend. Some people fear the simplest things like spiders, cockroaches, high places, and sometimes the dark. Some people get to fear the sea, and for some people, they fear the unknown. Anxiety can be normal, and humans feel it. However, it can be pretty disruptive if anxiety affects your daily activities.

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Science Alert mentions a study published in 2018, where scientists were able to discover anxiety cells found in the hippocampus through investigating the neurological basis of anxiety in the brain. The said cells do not only regulate apprehensive behavior but can also be controlled by a beam of light. According to the report, the research findings show that the result can offer hope for millions of people experiencing anxiety disorders.

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, about 40 million adults in the United States aging from 18 years and older have anxiety disorders, the most common mental illnesses. Healthline added anxiety is the body's natural response to stress. They added that it is a sensation of apprehension or fear about what is going to happen. They emphasized that anxiety usually helps people to work harder and do a better job. However, they note that anxiety disorder makes you have feared all the time and may sometimes be devastating.

In a statement, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) neuroscientist Mazen Kheirbek said that they understood where the emotional information that goes into anxiety is encoded with the brain.

Research methods and results

According to Science Alert, the research team used calcium imaging as a technique where miniature microscopes are inserted into the brains of lab mice that will record the cell's activity in the hippocampus as the animals made their way around their enclosures. Thus, they added that the research team built special labyrinths where some paths led to open spaces and elevated platforms, uncovered environments known to induce anxiety in mice due to increased defenselessness against predators. They further observed cells located in the hippocampus firing up, which made them discover that the more the mice behave anxiously, the greater the neuron activity became.

In a statement, Rene Hen, Ph.D., a senior researcher from Columbia University, said that they call them anxiety cells because they only fire or activate when the animals are in places that they fear the most. According to Science Alert, the researchers indicated that the cells' output is traced to the hypothalamus, which according to Healthline, plays an important function such as releasing hormones, regulating body temperature, and controlling appetite. The researchers note that a big new research lead into ways to treat various anxiety conditions.