Mice also feel the anxiety

sevendeman/epictura

Published the 01.02.2018 at 18: 15

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anxiety

It is, for some, the evil of the century : the stress ! Often linked to professional life, it can also be related to personal causes. But be anxious about it may be dangerous to health and may cause heart problems, eating disorders, fatigue, etc, Understand the origins of stress is one of the challenges facing today’s scientists. The teams at the medical center of Columbia university and the university of California in the United States have worked on the anxiety. They have discovered that a “cell of anxiety” exists in the mouse. Their results are published on the website Science Daily.

Signals are sent to other parts of the brain

The cell of the anxiety is present in the hippocampus of the mouse. This part of the brain is used in particular in the memory and locate them in space. The scientists found that these cells are activated when the mouse is stressed. “To a mouse, when it is in an open space, exposed to predators or on a raised platform,” says Rene Hen, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. These cells send signals to other parts of the brain, which trigger behaviors of anxiety in the rodent. This is the first study that finds cells that are directly related to anxiety, regardless of the trigger.

A cell is potentially present in the human

According to Rene Hen, if this cell exists in the mouse, it is also likely in man. If this is the case, it could open the way to new therapeutic treatments: “If it was on these cells, to a particular receptor which distinguishes them from the other, then it may be possible to manufacture a new drug that can reduce anxiety.”