Here’s the upshot of an incredibly exciting, new study in Nature, and helpfully explained by Kristin Houser in this piece.
Basically, scientists restrained mice for six hours (ouch) to induce a stress response. They then took a look at the brains on a molecular level.
In other words, after six hours of stress-inducing restraint, were there any changes?
This led to the discovery of increased levels of five microRNAs (miRNAs) — small molecules that help determine which genes in a cell are expressed and which aren’t — in the amygdala, the brain region implicated in anxiety.
When the researchers took a closer look at the miRNA that reached the highest levels, miR-483-5p, they saw that it suppressed the expression of the Pgap2 gene — and that this suppression appeared to provide stress relief and reduce anxiety-related behavior.
In other words, activation of the miR483-5p/Pgap2 pathway seems to bee associated with a reduction of anxiety.
And therein could lie the most important thing — a therapeutic on the horizon that targets that relationship to soothe stress.
Ideally, by “turning off” the anxiety gene.
Of course, this is just mice, and it needs to be replicated in humans, and a million more things need to happen, but the potential benefits are enormous.
This seems to be a remarkable finding. Imagine a way to simply turn off the expression of the offending gene through this pathway.
God bless the scientists who continue to work for ways to alleviate human suffering.
Find a psychiatrist here.
Find a therapist here.
[Free stock photography: Pexels].
