Tracing Anxiety to Its Source (IMAGE)
Caption
Anxiety was traced by the CSHL team to the brain's central amygdala, and to increased excitation of neurons that express the peptide somatostatin (SOM+ neurons). This initial step is demonstrated in these images, by comparing the amount of pink and blue fluorescence in the bottom right frame as compared with the frame directly above it, showing the central amygdala in mice not experiencing anxiety. The full pathway involves additional steps and identifies dynorphin, a signaling molecule, as a possible anti-anxiety drug target.
Credit
Li Lab, CSHL
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