A communication pathway between two brain structures appears to control anxiety levels

TGI: Thrive Health

Our continued interest in understanding Mind-Brain-Body-Science, motivating us to follow the developments in this regard, more specifically communication channels in neural system.

To that end, this morning we came across the following article that explored the communication pathways that control anxiety levels. Tye* and her colleagues, in a step toward uncovering better targets,  have discovered a communication pathway between two brain structures that appears to control anxiety levels. By turning the volume of this communication up and down in mice, the researchers were able to boost and reduce anxiety levels.

The two brain structures that appear to involved in this process are: the amygdala and the ventral hippocampus

 How these two brain structures interact:

To study those interactions, the researchers turned to optogenetics, which allows them to engineer neurons to turn their electrical activity on or off in response to light. For this study, the researchers modified…

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