A new study of mice has found “anxiety cells” in the hippocampus.
“We call these anxiety cells because they only fire when the animals are in places that are innately frightening to them,” explains senior researcher Rene Hen from Columbia University.
The output of these cells was traced to the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that – among other things – regulates the hormones that controls emotions.”
Now the amazing part. Using optogenetics, the scientists targeted the anxiety cells with a beam of light, leading to “confident, anxiety-free activity in the mice.”
They explored more, demonstrated less fear.
The big takeaway:
“…the next steps will be to find out whether the same control switch is what regulates human anxiety – and based on what we know about the brain similarities with mice, it seems plausible.
If that pans out, these results could open a big new research lead into ways to treat various anxiety conditions.”
Stuff like this is very exciting. I just hope I live long enough for this kind of technology to hit humans, but if I don’t, I’ll be in heaven, which will also be an effective treatment for anxiety.
(Fun fact unrelated to mice and anxiety, but related to the picture): Gustave Eiffel built a secret apartment for himself at the top of the Eiffel Tower. But he never let anyone but himself stay there.
Photo: Pexels.
